A few moments before the giant was killed by the mysterious youth Mr. Sherevile and Tian Long had appeared outside the wall of array that still encompassed the area affected by the fighting. They had hurried here and arrived in record time, yet now they remained standing in front of the glowing hieroglyphs and mysterious star-charts that made up the arrays. It wasn’t that the two gods could not find a way to bypass this impressive defensive mechanism, in fact they would have already done so if it wasn’t for the sleeping lady who was blocking them.
“What is the meaning of this?”, Tian growled lowly. They were friends and had remained on good terms for over a millennium, yet now for some reason she was blocking his way. Saji was just a human girl and the time they spend with each other was laughable compared to the lifetime of the three gods present, but not only had he promised Ji to take care of the girl, he himself also liked her quite a bit.
Of course, this wasn’t enough to make him fall out with the sleeping lady, but it was more then enough to become extremely furious.
Mr. Sherevile next to him was the same. He too glared at the sleeping lady, a somewhat frightening look in his eyes. To a god a mortal’s life was short and insignificant, but once that mortal had become his friend the god would make sure that this insignificant life was not ended prematurely. This held true for almost all gods and especially for one like Mr. Sherevile who was the embodiment of a gentlemen. It was more than just a serious insult to stop him from helping a human whom he regarded as friend!
The sleeping lady smiled, obviously unimpressed by the two gods’ ire. Nevertheless, the explained herself.
“Don’t worry, I did not waste money on buying a Tibetan fairy for nothing. That young fox cub is more than enough to defend against a trifling giant.”
The two male gods relaxed a little.
But Tian wasn’t satisfied with just that “Why wouldn’t you stop this from the beginning? There is no reason for making that girl experience this sort of danger, is there?”, he said and looked over at the wound riddled Sha.
The sleeping lady’s expression turned a little dissatisfied. “Oh, please you know me for so many years. In all these centuries did I ever give you a reason to believe that I would ever act without reason?
We both know that Ji is still inexperienced in this sort of things. He does not understand that keeping a mortal around isn’t as simple as to just give them some protective measures. The girl has to learn how this world works and grow up to be one of us, otherwise at some point of time she will slip up and end up dead.
As for the fox, I did not expect our old friend to give one of his underlings these many talismans. If it wasn’t for that playthings the young fox would have mobbed the floor with the giant.”
“Then is it not time for you, my dear friend, to finally end this fight?”, Mr. Sherevile inquired.
The sleeping lady shrugged.
“Haven’t you noticed the Ta-Clan member down there?”, she pointed at a youth standing next to Saji. Between them and the three gods were a dozen arrays, a few hundred meters distance, two buildings and a screen of fire and dust, but to the gods it was easy to ignore all these obstacles.
Tian and Mr. Sherevile threw a glance and caught sight of the youth. They visibly relaxed now.
“Then,”, Mr. Sherevile crossed his arms behind his back. “All that is left is waiting for the children to finish, isn’t it?”
…
The last fires slowly died down and the dust gradually settled onto the ground. The fight had ended in an unexpected fashion and while some were relieved that it was over, others couldn’t accept the kind of unreasonable end.
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To be exact the only person who could not accept it was Sha.
He had risked his life, was badly injured in the process and generally felt miserable, yet just when he was heading towards the grand finale, another random youth had killed his opponent. It wasn’t that Sha was absolutely confident in winning against the giant and it could have very well been him who would have ended up as a dead corpse when the dust settled, but that did not change the fact that his big moment was stolen by another male.
He threw an evil look at the youth who did not seem to mind it. In fact, he even smiled condescending. As a male he could understand how it felt having one’s show ruined by some other male
“Don’t take it personal, the lady asked me to do it, so I did it.”, he turned around to face Saji. Sha just spat on the ground.
“So where did you get that talisman from?”
Saji absentmindedly looked at the dead body of the giant, only a few moments later she finally reacted to the youth’s question. She turned her head and faced the giant, she reached out with her hand and said:
“First of all, let’s introduce ourselves. I am Saji, ‘guest’ of the one you are searching for.”, a slight smile played on her lips.
The youth lifted his eyebrows. Then he grinned.
“My name is Kan Ta, I am a member of the Ta-clan and the one who’s guest you are is my Clan’s savior!”, he took her hand and shook it. Saji felt the power behind Kan’s hands and was reassured.
This young man was powerful!
If he wasn’t as powerful as a god, he was at least as powerful as a demi god!
Saji had never seen the true might of a god. The one-time Ji killed the green demon was nothing more then a flick with the finger for a god. The true might of a god… it was something hard to imagine for a mortal girl like her.
Despite that she somehow knew that Kan was truly powerful even when compared to a god like Ji.
“So where is my benefactor?”, Kan suddenly asked.
Saji smiled wryly.
“I have no idea. He said he had to take care of some business and would come back in a few days. You could ask these three!”, she pointed behind Kan, where three figures slowly walked through the disintegrating shields and arrays.
It was the sleeping lady, Mr. Sherevile and Tian Long.
Kan turned around and saw the three gods approaching. Without another word he fell onto a knee and lowered his head.
“Kan Ta of the Ta-clan offers his greetings to the exalted gods!”, his voice boomed through the area.
Saji and Sha were shocked. From what they had seen Kan wasn’t much weaker then a god, yet he was extremely deferential towards the three before them!
It was Mr. Sherevile who spoke out.
“You may rise, member of the Ta-Clan. You benefactor is a good friend of ours. Unfortunately, you cannot meet him right now, but the time shall come soon enough.”
Kan rose up.
“Thank you, exalt deity. If it is fine I would like to stay with this woman until benefactor is ready to meet me.”, he pointed at the surprised Saji.
Mr. Sherevile nodded.
“So, it be then!”
Before anything else could happen, Sha walked over to the sleeping lady. He was still messed up, blood drying all over his body, but somehow, he had a certain dignity to himself that made it impossible for one to look down on him.
“I knew something wasn’t quite right when you offered me a Tibetan fairy just for going shopping with some human gal. But whatever, I did what you wanted me to do, so now, oh exalt goddess, give me what you promised me!”
The sleeping lady gave Sha a deep look, then she smiled.
“Isn’t it ridiculous that the once powerful fox god has ended up sealed and incapable of dealing with a simple giant?”, her voice was gentle, but the words were like nails of ridicule boring down into Sha’s flesh.
Fury was glistering in his eyes, but he controlled himself.
“Keep your promise.”, he said calmly.
The sleeping lady lifted her brow, surprised over so much self-control. She flicked her sleeve and a humanoid being appeared next to her.
It was a small girl with two transparent wings on her back. The fairy had shoulder long black hair and the gentle facial features that typical for Asian faces. She was extraordinary beautiful and despite her small size of only a meter her slender body was already mature.
The fairy opened her eyes and looked at Sha.
“You are my new master?”, she asked with a voice like a bell.
Sha nodded. There was excitement in his eyes.
The fairy flew down and made a deep bow before Sha. The later seemed to be ecstatic as his eyes glistered. It was the type of excitement a collector would have when he found the one rare piece he had been searching for, for the last decades.
He turned around to face Saji.
“I am going home for some time. In a month or so I am going to be back!”, without any further words he stretched out his hand. The fair understood what he wanted and flew onto the hand. Then both were engulfed by a ball of blue fire and shot into the distance.