"Let us depart," Ir'alith said as the glowing helmet landed on her head.
A portal opened, and she walked through.
Volcatia followed after her.
Her eyes roamed.
She'd completely missed the change, but Ir'alith's skin had become scales.
Including her tail!
And now there was a big spike at the end of it?
This was how she'd looked last night.
Was it better than her shape without scales?
Were her legs better?
Volcatia strained her eyes and her Leg Sense.
She had no fucking idea!
So frustrating!
"Vol, I thank you again for your aid," Ir'alith said.
Her tail swayed from side to side, and Volcatia's gaze followed it carefully.
She needed to stop though.
This was important.
Really important.
But the scales!
Urgh…
Fine.
No more tail spectating.
"Carl's my friend," she said as she walked. "Haven't known him that long, but obviously I'd help."
"I have known him only a short time," Ir'alith said. "I do not know how to face him after such a thing has happened."
"Eh. If she's fine, maybe you just let it work itself out."
The way Ir'alith's tail swayed back and forth while she walked was hypnotic.
Left…
Right…
Left…
Right…
It was so new!
Volcatia had never met someone with a tail like this before!
What would it—
"I… No, I must tell him and admit to my mistake," Ir'alith said, shaking her helmeted head. "I desired to guarantee her safety first, or I would have made it known to him at once."
Fuck, too distracting.
Volcatia sped up her pace to walk beside Ir'alith.
Why were they walking anyway?
Maybe…
Carl's wife definitely wasn't in any urgent danger.
Did Ir'alith just want to talk?
Okay, this was a great chance.
She just needed to say something Smart.
If she could be friends with Ir'alith, she could probably at least touch her tail.
Friends let friends touch their tails, didn't they?
Fuck, it was too distracting!
"Maybe you shouldn't?" She decided to say the first thing that came to mind to try and stop being distracted.
Ir'alith looked down to her and stopped. "Why would you say this if you are his friend?"
"Uh…"
Fuck, even trying not to be distracted was distracting!
Volcatia definitely needed something Smart now.
"Because it's his wife?" she tried.
"That is why I must tell him," Ir'alith said, her expression changing to a firm frown.
"Uh, well, but shouldn't his wife be the one to tell him?" Volcatia tried.
Yeah.
Actually.
This was making more sense the more she thought about it.
She'd learned something of how husbands and wives worked in her travels.
"Can't get between a husband and wife," she continued. "Even if you're a friend, you might just make a bigger problem. What if you say one thing and she says another thing? Then Carl's gonna be confused and maybe upset at both of you."
Yeah, this was getting into an area that she was more familiar with.
It wasn't just one time she'd hidden under a bed, or in a closet, or behind a door while a husband or wife with great legs lied to their wife or husband about why they were naked and sweaty, alone in bed.
She imagined hearing the hasty explanation from more than one person would make it even more hard to believe.
Fine, maybe that wasn't exactly the same thing, but explaining shit was hard.
"Your words give me cause for thought," Ir'alith said after a short while as her tail tapped against the ground.
Volcatia wasn't distracted this time though.
Not even a little.
She'd been taking glances at those scaled mystery legs.
A realization had come to her.
Why was she thinking so much about a tail?
It was the mystery legs she needed…
No, it was the Mystery Legs she needed to know about.
"Once we travel a short distance more, they will attack," Ir'alith said, pointing towards the city with her tail. "Are you prepared?"
Volcatia shrugged. "Yeah?"
"Do not worry. I can sense their presences. They will not catch us unaware."
This was getting weird.
"Thanks?" Volcatia said.
She started walking.
Seemed like the thing to do.
"If you wish to run, I will match your pace," Ir'alith said as she walked nearby.
"Okay," Volcatia said.
Probably a good idea.
It would take ages to get to the city if they walked like this.
She didn't know exactly where she was, but it had taken her a long time to get there when she'd watched.
Sort of.
She decided to be a little faster, and she was.
She kept walking.
Ir'alith started to run next to her.
Volcatia realized something.
Maybe she should run too?
Probably.
Just so it didn't look weird.
People always said weird things when she walked too fast.
She decided to be slower and started to run.
Ir'alith was keeping up, but they still weren't very fast.
Volcatia gradually increased her pace until she noticed Ir'alith start to fall slightly behind, then slowed a little.
Huh.
A little fast?
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
She felt currents approaching from the front as the city's walls came into sight.
"They come!" called Ir'alith.
This was a little fun.
Just like that day at the lake, the metal canēs were hidden to Volcatia's sight.
One leapt at her from the front, and she batted it aside.
Except…
Fuck, she'd used too much power.
Her hand passed through the metal, and it melted all over her arm from the speed.
She shook her hand, trying to dislodge the cooling metal, but it was no use.
She had to deconstruct the metal into ash to get rid of it.
Annoying.
Moments later, they reached the wall.
"You are strong," Ir'alith said as she stopped beside her.
Another metal canis jumped at Volcatia, but she used a more reasonable amount of strength to slap it aside this time. "Yeah."
Ir'alith kicked out, and a metal canis appeared and bounced away. "Activate the device. I will defend."
Volcatia stared as Ir'alith struck with her tail, then kicked again.
Her tail was so much stronger than she'd thought!
And the way the scales moved!
And those Mystery Legs!
She was convinced now that they must be great legs.
Had to be.
"Vol," Ir'alith called as she attacked another metal canis, "you must hurry, or we will be overrun."
Right.
What was…
Oh.
Volcatia pulled the giant solenoid coil out of her Inventory. "Okay, just need to…"
She aimed it up in the direction of the city and ran an opposing current into the ends.
More.
The coil glowed red.
Yeah, that looked right.
Or, at least, it probably looked like it would do something to someone who didn't have Electricity Knowledge.
She quickly deconstructed the coil towards the city.
At the same time, she shot a larger current than she'd ever used before as high as she could into the sky and exploded it.
Apparently the whole world had this magnet shit around it, and she could do something something, and then the world's magnet shit would make a huge electromagnetic pulse?
Electricity Knowledge could go fuck itself.
So fucking complicated.
The small currents surrounding her remained, but they no longer tried to attack.
"You were successful," Ir'alith said, prodding a fallen metal canis near herself with her tail.
"Yeah, thanks for guarding," Volcatia said.
She'd really mastered saying thanks.
Also she was amazed that her weird idea had worked.
World-magnet shit.
Huh.
"It is who I am," Ir'alith said. "But you did not need my protection."
Volcatia looked over and saw that Ir'alith was giving her a smile filled with sharp, pointy teeth.
The pointiness of her teeth brought even more questions to mind.
She'd think about those another time.
"Uh…"
"I was uncertain when we fought, but I saw how you killed that machine before you used the device. You hid your strength so that I could preserve my honor and aid in Annie's rescue." Ir'alith inclined her head, and her tail waved back and forth behind her. "I thank you again for this kindness, Vol."
Relief surged through Volcatia for the second time that night, and she grinned. "Thought you'd be upset if you found out."
She started walking over towards the wall.
This was a great night.
She'd thought for a moment that her chance to judge Ir'alith's Mystery Legs might be fading out.
Instead, she'd been right about her other judgment.
Ir'alith was the difficult type.
She was also maybe easier to spend time with than other people Volcatia had met who were like that?
It was too soon to know.
"Your deception was for my benefit. I regret that I am so weak, but I cannot use my true strength while I protect my people."
Volcatia grabbed a piece of the wall and ripped a big hole in it. "What do you mean?" she asked as she waved Ir'alith over and stepped through the hole.
"I am a creature of magic," Ir'alith said while she approached. "Nearly all of my magic is used to maintain the barrier that protects my people."
Huh.
Ir'alith was doing magic to keep that thing up?
Volcatia wasn't sure what to think about that.
She'd come upon that barrier a while earlier, but she hadn't been able to pass through it no matter how she tried.
Magic was annoying like that, even though she hadn't tried very hard.
To make something as big as that barrier seemed like it would need a lot of magic though.
Maybe…
Was Ir'alith actually really strong?
How strong would she be if she could use all her magic?
Were her Mystery Legs actually Magic Legs?!
----------------------------------------
"You seem familiar with this city," Ir'alith said.
"Uh, no, why're you saying that?" Volcatia said as she reached out to tear a hole in the wall of the metal building.
"We ran straight to this structure from our place of entry."
Volcatia ignored the annoying screeching sound of the metal she was ripping apart. "Well, that's… Uh, just lucky, right? This is the only metal building in the city, so obviously it's gonna be—"
"How do you know it is the only metal building?" Ir'alith asked.
Fuck.
Volcatia hadn't thought about the possibility, but…
Was Ir'alith smart?
Maybe even Smart?
It was too soon to know, but she seemed to notice everything.
"We need to focus on why we're here," Volcatia said in her best Champion of Sateus voice. "Annie's in—probably in here, and we're gonna rescue her."
"We will," Ir'alith said. She started forward quickly, hurrying into the building.
Volcatia followed after her. "She's maybe gonna be all the way in the back? Probably where someone would keep their prisoners."
"Wherever she is, we will rescue her," Ir'alith called over her armored shoulder.
They ran through a hallway until Ir'alith came to a sudden stop. "You!" she shouted. Her scales changed instantly to red and began to glow.
"What? Who the hell are you?" the cheating Char called out.
Ir'alith snarled, her clawed feet shredding the floor as she darted forward. "I AM NOT ZOE! I AM IR'ALITH!" Her tail stabbed downwards and came up coiled tightly around the neck of the cheating Char, and she let out a roar that rattled the walls. Her claws slashed at one of his arms, and it fell away with a continuing spurt of blood.
Huh.
Seemed like Volcatia didn't need to figure out a good way to kill him after all.
The cheating Char let out a quiet, gurgling groan, and Ir'alith's tail tightened further. She sliced off his other arm, and the pool of blood on the floor grew.
Volcatia leaned against the wall.
This seemed like it might take a while, but she wasn't in a particular hurry.
Ir'alith was getting more interesting by the moment.
How interesting could she…
A bloody gladius floated into the air and squeezed itself into the Char's opened mouth.
Huh.
That was…
Huh…
Huh.
Volcatia had never seen something like that before.
Was that magic?
And she'd just ripped it off and shoved it into his mouth like…
Huh.
Volcatia started nodding along.
Yeah, this was something she could enjoy.
That cheating Char had annoyed her, but how many other people did he scam?
Maybe it was all he did?
She might not care about victory anymore, but she was still a citizen of the Empire.
She hated people who cheated.
Ir'alith grabbed his head with her clawed hands and twisted, ripping it off in a spray of blood. She threw it on the ground and stomped down, splattering its remains all over. She continued to stomp repeatedly, changing targets to his body once his head stopped being anything resembling a head.
Okay, this was maybe a little too far.
Volcatia felt like she was stuck listening to one of Aquila's lectures again.
Just went on and on…
Splash, splash, splash…
"Hey, Ir'alith, you, uh…"
Ir'alith spun around, her eyes glowing red. "Kill," she said in a weird sort of whisper just before she lunged.
Huh?
Volcatia didn't know what was happening, but it was definitely weird.
She leaned to the side to avoid a claw to her face, then held a finger up to block the point of a stabbing tail.
She couldn't even enjoy that she was touching that tail now!
Ir'alith seemed like she'd lost her fucking mind.
"Hey, calm down," Volcatia said as she hopped backwards to dodge a kick aimed at her legs. Her hand came up and blocked another tail strike.
What the fuck was she supposed to do about this?
The hardest part was how much fucking blood Ir'alith was covered in.
Volcatia was sure it would be annoying if all of that got on her.
Other humans got weird if she had too much blood on herself.
She'd have to change her clothes again.
Maybe even fully restore her shell if there was enough blood.
Liquids were always the most annoying to deconstruct.
Ir'alith smashed through a wall and snarled as she dove forward.
Volcatia sighed.
This was going to be annoying.
She just knew it.
Or was it?
Electricity Knowledge seemed like it had something for this.
She jumped up and attached herself to the ceiling for a moment to evade a lunging claw slash, then dropped down onto Ir'alith's back and pressed a hand to her neck.
Fulmen crackled, and blue light filled the room.
"You okay—"
Volcatia felt something wrap around her neck.
Fuck, this was so fucking annoying she couldn't even have fucking imagined how fucking annoying it would fucking be when she fucking decided to fucking—
Ir'alith roared and bashed her head-first into the ground repeatedly.
----------------------------------------
"I must apologize once more," Ir'alith said. "No, apology cannot be enough for this. My shame is too great."
Volcatia pulled a shirt out of her Inventory and tugged it down over her head. "It's fine. Didn't even hurt."
It was really fucking annoying though.
She couldn't fight back or do much of anything since she didn't want to accidentally kill her.
Ir'alith sat before her in the wreckage of the hallway with her head in her hands, having returned to her previous form, and her skin was now a bright, reddish-pink color where it was visible between the pieces of her armor. "Your words now shame me differently," she said in a quiet voice.
Urgh.
"Uh, well… I'd probably be dead if I was anyone else?" Volcatia tried.
It was sort of true.
She imagined even Mellitus would have a hard time in a fight like that.
Ir'alith wasn't as strong, but she was fast, and her tail let her change positions and strike from weird angles.
"If you seek to console me, you should stop speaking," Ir'alith said.
She'd gone from an insane killing frenzy to being embarrassed so fast!
Volcatia chuckled. "Yeah, maybe I'm not that good at it."
Ir'alith was really interesting.
Volcatia hadn't thought about that as much until now.
She'd been too focused on the Mystery Legs.
There was a whole, interesting person on top of those legs though!
As she thought about it more, she wondered whether Ir'alith would still be interesting if she'd been using her Foresight skill.
Maybe?
The more she'd started using it, the more boring people had gotten.
Carl had been the first person she…
"Let's be friends," she said suddenly.
It was just what she felt like saying.
Ir'alith lowered her hands from her face after a short while and looked up at her. "You…would desire to have one such as me as a friend after—"
"Yeah," Volcatia said with a widening smile. "We're friends now. So don't worry about any of that."
Ir'alith smiled back hesitatingly after a moment's confusion, and Volcatia offered a hand to pull her up.
Things had stopped being boring since she'd come back to Onyxfell.
She'd come in search of meaning, in search of purpose, in search of humanity, and maybe even in search of victory if she couldn't find anything else.
She'd found something though.
She'd found that the real Victory she'd needed was the friends she'd made over the past few days.