“Then, let’s begin!” Abeni heard the female ẹda announce, effortlessly transforming into her second form five times Abeni’s size and dashing her way. But not before Abeni could open her mouth. Feeling the outer spirit energy flow violently through the centre of her body. Pushing her forward.

“Down!”

And the female ẹda fell to the ground with a huge boom! Right down onto the line of stone by the soil, clearly avoiding the plants. They didn’t want the farmer to be angry. “Ouch! Hey, that’s not fair! You can’t just do that!”

Abeni released a deep breath that she didn’t know she was holding as she gripped her butter knife. Looking around for a moment to see if anyone heard that before grinning her face off. “Sorry, but why not?” She couldn’t help but feel smug after how the female ẹda was taunting her. “I followed the rules that we both agreed to.”

“Uh…Argh!” The female ẹda tried to use her arms to push herself up and out of the command, but her body stayed down because it was her own body keeping itself down. It only took a minute or so more for her to admit defeat. The leader board now being Abeni: 1, Female ẹda: 0.

Abeni undid her command and they started again.

She could probably win again by using the same tactic. But that wasn’t the point of sparring like this. No, this time, she wanted to try something else, so she repeated the same command in Yoruba but it didn’t work.

“What does that mean! Is that another language?”

And more than that, Abeni’s failed command gave the other being enough time to knock her head down onto the soil and strike the butter knife out of her hand. The female ẹda was still in her large form and incredibly heavy as she held Abeni face down on the rocky ground. Carefully but completely winding her.

She couldn’t move and the stones under her face were hurting her cheek.

“…Ouch.”

“There! I win.”

Don’t panic…Don’t panic. In a battle of strength, Abeni would lose every time so she didn’t bother squirming, but if she just used “down” again, it might work. Or maybe ‘get off me’ and then ‘down’? Lest she, you know, crush herself.

But just as Abeni subtly opened her mouth to speak, the female ẹda covered her mouth and all that was heard was a mumble which had no effect. Well, that answered some more questions.

“Oi, Abeni.”

At least with the female ẹda, her commands shouldn’t conflict with each other, there was no known time limit, they must be understood by the target in a language they knew...and they had to be at volume they could hear—

“Oi~!” Her eyes snapped up to the female ẹda who looked unimpressed at being ignored. “You lost you know? There’s no way you’re getting out of this. So, nod if you accept defeat.”

That broke her out of her train of thought. Looked like it was Abeni: 1, Female ẹda: 1 now. The moment Abeni nodded and the female ẹda to let her go, she accepted her loss and told the female ẹda what she had observed. Making the other being grin and suggest they keep going to see if they could find anything else out.

The next time they sparred, Abeni decided to try and win by using an alternative phrase.

“Don’t hit me,” she commanded then put some more distance between them to observe what happened. The words made the female ẹda stagger but quickly break out of it as she moved towards Abeni at an incredible speed.

“I can still hold you down!”

Oh! She was going to lose! Focus! “Then, don’t tou—”

But before anything happened, mid-way the female ẹda transformed back into her first, eniyan-sized form. They both stared at each other until Abeni pounded her fist in the air in excitement, acting more and more like herself from before her thirteenth birthday. “Yes!”

While the female ẹda wailed like she just lost a limb. “Has it already been ten minutes? I’m out! Dammit!”

Out of outer spirit energy, Abeni assumed. So, she ran over to her body and aimed the butter knife towards her, lightly swiping at the wrinkles on her smaller tail. But before Abeni could do much, the female ẹda pushed her away.

“What are you doing? Weirdo. Just use your ability to win the match.”

“No…how long does it take before you can transform again?”

“I’m not sure…I’ve never properly counted. Maybe an hour?”

“Well, we’ll see! This can be training for you too,” Abeni wanted to know the extent of what the female ẹda could do too. So, she kept slashing only to miss. Over and over again. Not that it mattered. She was just practising her form at this point.

“You can’t cut anyone like that you know? Your swings are too weak.”

“Huh?” Wasn’t that the point? Slash! Miss. Slash! Miss. “That’s why you said I should bring a butter knife instead of a larger one, right? So, I could practice swinging at a moving target?”

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

The female ẹda sent her a disappointed look back. “Abeni…the reason I suggested you should bring a butter knife is so that you could use it as best as you could,” but why would she swing the blade with force if she didn’t want to hurt the female ẹda? Wait...“I guess you don’t know, but ẹda have thick skin so you don’t have to hold back.”

“Oh! Oh! I understand now!” Abeni stopped slashing and started rambling. “If I slash hard enough, I could probably cut an eniyan with a butter knife, but I’m guessing that wouldn’t happen with you. So, instead of a knife, I should think of it like…a pen or something. I should slash you where I would if I had a sharp sword. So that I can get a feel of using a weapon, practice my form and even see if I can locate your weak points all at once. I see…it’ll be good practice. You’re a genius!” She grinned, finding it easier now. Now that she felt more comfortable around the female ẹda. Trusted her.

“Ha…Y-yeah. Of course. Of course, that’s what I meant.”

But before Abeni went on to do just that, she realised something. “How do I win then? I can't push you down with a butter knife.”

“Win? Oh, er…I guess I could pretend to react to your slashes as if they were from a short sword?”

“…No. We might be sparring, but I want to take this seriously.”

The female ẹda laughed to herself though, crossing her arms. “Well, I might be untransformed right now, but I’m still much stronger than an eniyan child like you. Especially since you’re not going to use your mind manipulation ability. What do eniyans call me again? A senior—?”

But Abeni wasn’t joking. Control the other side of the board so you could win. That’s what she’d do. Abeni thought it over for a short time before using the female ẹda’s temporary break in attention to jump in the air and cling to the female ẹda’s middle. Legs wrapped tightly around her arms to stop the female ẹda from shaking Abeni off and lightly scratching her with those nails, some even nick Abeni’s skin but that wouldn’t stop her.

“Ugh! You sneaky little—!” The female ẹda slithered around trying to shake Abeni off while she stabbed between the wrinkles. Since Abeni first saw her, the white-haired girl assumed that the in-between of the wrinkles might me more sensitive than anything. So, she stabbed those parts of her body from where she could reach now.

“Ouch, Abeni! Get off of me!”

“Sorry!” Abeni shouted back. This wasn’t working...

“Argh! ‘Sorry’ doesn’t make it not hurt!”

“Sorry again!”

Weak points could often be the parts that tie two things together. Abeni had learned that about her clothes when Iya fixed holes in her custom-made shorts or skirts. So, if not the wrinkles in the female ẹda’s body, what about where the flower part of her body turned into a worm esk body? What about the neck? The back of the neck? She tried it and finally got a reaction.

The moment Abeni hit the back of the female ẹda’s neck with her butter knife, the female ẹda’s body dropped and Abeni bounced away. Watching silently as the female ẹda slowly descended onto the ground. Flowers squished underneath her flower head as she struggled to move properly.

But instead of complaining that Abeni might’ve ruined the farm or permanently damaged her, neither of them spoke for a moment. Just soaking it in.

“I can’t move.”

The white-haired girl sighed. She’d won then.

Abeni: 2, Female ẹda: 1.

“You’re a natural!” The female ẹda exclaimed, sounding happier than expected. Abeni couldn’t see her face from where it was planted on the ground, but it sounded like she was grinning.

Abeni’s lips twisted as well as she felt a rush of embarrassment pass by her. Shrugging. “It’s whatever.”

But the female ẹda apparently wasn’t one to hold back her praise, “It’s not whatever, Abeni! That was great!”

“Well…you were in your normal form. If you transformed larger or smaller, I couldn’t do that,” it was true. Abeni shook her head. It was best to be realistic. While she may be quick on her feet, her mind manipulation ability was by far her best weap—

“Let’s try it then.”

“What?”

The female ẹda took a moment to get her bearings again, her strong nerves recovering extremely faster than an eniyan’s would. Then she transformed into a her third form and prompted them to continue sparring all night up until early morning. In different forms, with different commands and by the end of it, Abeni felt like she actually knew what combat was. Both losing…and winning.

Abeni: 30, Female ẹda: 21.

“You win. Fine,” the female ẹda acknowledged as they gathered themselves and left. Walking – or slithering – out of the rocky field and towards her stone hut. Their stone hut.

“Of course, I won,” Abeni felt smug, but her vocal cords hurt too much for her to brag any more than that.

Finding out that she could only say six to eight phrases before running out of outer spirit energy which replenished every 20 or so minutes made her obsessed with using commands. The moment she had recuperated enough energy to try one she would try it. For the sake of learning. Which meant a lot of screaming and a lack of water in her throat.

That’s the only reason the female ẹda’s score was so high. Because the female ẹda…was right. Abeni’s mind manipulation ability, if used correctly, was a move that could end most fights in an instant.

“Er, don’t act like you knew you would win! You absolutely thought you’d lose. Little child, don’t make me remind you of your—”

“30:21.”

“…Urgh…Why did I agree to help you again?”

“Because…” Abeni’s worked voice tried to say but then faded out because she didn’t know the answer either.

“Because I’m on your side.”

What?

“Listen…the bits and pieces I’ve heard about this village sounds weird. The villagers treat each other just as badly as we ẹda treat them. They couldn’t care less about one another, and they seem willing to step on other being’s toes to get what they want. They even get violent or pushy like they did with you, a grieving child. It doesn’t even seem to be the curse making them act like this either,” she paused to give Abeni a once over who kept quiet. Happy to hear the female ẹda out, “I…listen. You’ve had it rough...and I want to help you figure things out and live comfortably here. That’s why I’m here in the first place. So...until that happens, I won’t leave. And you won’t have to rely on people you can’t trust...you can rely on me.”

That’s probably one of the first times the female ẹda had been so honest with her and judging from what happened on the way from the maze, Abeni believed her words.

“Really?” She didn’t think the villagers were all bad, but it was true. Abeni didn’t trust them anymore. If she ever did, “Why?”

“Why?” The female ẹda scratched her chin, slithering along as they approached Abeni’s stone hut. Their stone hut. “Because I’ve come to like you.”

“Ew…” Abeni walked up to the door. “Like how my Baba liked my Iya?”

“What? No, you—!”

But the white-haired girl pushed the door open as she burst into laughter.

“Abeni~!” She heard the female ẹda protest from behind her.

“I’m sorry, that was a dumb joke!”

“…A-Abeni!”

Abeni kept giggling, not noticing her change in tone. “I’m sorr—!”

Until she turned around to see the female ẹda collapsed outside of the hut, vomiting all over the ground.

[Current Total Beings In ‘Abeni’s Army’ – 1]