When Jaid opened the door to find the lone survivor, she was fired upon by a frantic woman clutching a gun and cowering behind a desk. But this wasn’t the first time, and it wouldn’t be the last that the knight would encounter, so she was prepared for it, opening the door with the flat of her blade held out in front of her, and her arm protected by the armor. There were some clear plinks and sparks too, so it had been warranted.
Jaid dashed forward with her clones, knocking the gun out of the woman’s hands before she could commit any more stupidities. The woman quickly went on the defensive, spouting nonsensical information that sort of weaved its way into some kind of tale. But the important part that Jaid grasped was that the woman claimed to be an administrative assistant for the place, though something still felt off.
“Alright, well, we’re going to get you out of here, but we’ll have to take you with us for questioning,” Jaid explained while the other Fiends caught up.
“Okay, I see. That’s fi-Puffticks!” the woman suddenly reached into her pocket and threw a handful of what looked like small black dots at the group. The threat didn’t seem immediate, but Jaid could feel whatever they were latching onto her face, since it was the only part of her body with exposed skin.
A moment later, her vision was obscured as the pressure around her visage grew more tense and squished. Out of the small corner of vision that was still available, Jaid watched the woman dash out of the room. “Izma, get her!” she managed to spout before her mouth and other eye became obstructed as well.
Hopefully her companion could take care of things, since whatever had happened to the others quickly became a life and death struggle. Jaid clawed at the creature on her face—how balloonlike and squishy it felt. She tried to pull them away, and even to pop them by bashing her fist, but there was no luck. However, she managed to shift one of the Puffticks just enough to see out of an eye and clear one nostril on her nose so she wouldn’t suffocate.
Every other Fiend was covered in them too. Like Jaid, Dura had them on the top of his head and on both of his hands. The other two didn’t look as good, keeled over with tons of the little buggers tapped onto every bit of exposed flesh since they had a lot more. One had even gotten under the back of Dicatta’s shirt and inflated, lifting the clothing so even more could bite his stomach.
Jaid understood the puff part, clearly based on pufferfish, but she didn’t get the tick until she felt her blood being sucked away. Puffer fish and ticks, a nasty combo. She abhorred ticks, and would happily see them wiped out from the face of Rathe, and that was when she had no idea they could get even worse.
“Hey, what is that thing that you guys say whenever you’re in trouble?” Of all the parts of Dura’s body left alone, his mouth was unfortunately one of them. Now Jaid had to worry about being talked to death if the blood loss didn’t get her first. But then he said something unexpected, something she was torn about whether it was great or terrible. “Oh, I remember! Tize, help me!”
It wasn’t immediate, though it probably would have felt exceedingly fast if they weren’t counting the seconds as they fought for their lives against these Cosdamned bloodsuckers. But it didn’t take long before orange specks of light trickled into the room and formed into a band around Dura’s wrist.
『Synchronization Rate: 77%』 【Dura, you can now improve the durability of flesh and body parts for yourself and anyone you touch. I believe this should work if you increase the strength of your skin and veins.】
The monk did as suggested, and the Puffticks suddenly all plopped off of him and onto the ground, wailing and writhing as they wiggled around, unable to really move their fat bloated bodies. “Hugs for everyone!” Dura ran around the room and wrapped his arms around whatever little bit of exposed flesh he could find for each Fiend. “My friendship shall save you!”
And just like that, they were all suddenly Pufftick free. Dice was still recovering from all the bloodloss, so Jaid took the honor of gleefully smashing them all to death. They were quite fortunate that they were all Fiends, because even Dura’s enhanced Curse probably wouldn’t have saved a human.
It was really their own regeneration that had saved them, their cells and skin fighting back against the monsters as they replenished themselves. Once their bodies had been hardened, the Puffticks could no longer bite into the newly repaired flesh and were forced out.
After confirming that everyone was safe, Dura held up his wrist and looked at the fused Tize. “Interesting, this is a bracelet with a strengthening charm from my old life. I guess you do not need to be anything more to make us strong together! Very pleasant working with you, Mr. Tize Saviorman.”
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The Fiend then unfused from Dura and checked on his two fellow members. After they were well enough to stand back up on their own, he whirled around back to the two from the Central Peace. “I’ve been called somewhere else, so I have to leave now.” His legs started vanishing into orange light, but then he smirked before disappearing entirely. “I’m glad you’re doing well, Jaid. I’m still waiting on our rematch.”
Annoying bastard, what rematch?! Did he consider when she’d been caught as a spy as them actually fighting? Sure, he’d gotten a good shot on her thanks to Phon’s help, but that could hardly be called a fair match. He was lucky he’d run away, or she would have damnsure given him the fight he wanted right then and there, now almost at a boiling point of anger from his cockiness.
But the knight forced her head to cool off when Izma returned with their attacker in tow. The buried-alive Fiend was carrying the woman using two of her braids, restraining her arms and legs, pulling them apart from each other. It almost looked like she was planning to use the woman as a rope to skip over while still in her coffin.
By the time the group made it back above ground, the rest of the CP squads had arrived. One of the Lieutenants quickly ran over to report to Jaid. He was in the middle of informing her that they’d cleared the area of monsters when Dice and Egawo emerged from the crater, so he paused to stare, putting his hand on his gun.
“Stand down,” Jaid quickly ordered him. “These two were instrumental for completing this mission, so they’re not to be bothered. And actually, make sure they’re paid the going contractor rate for their troubles.” The soldier stared at them again for a moment, before finally saluting and walking away.
“Hmph, maybe you’re not too bad, Prude Paladin,” Egawo huffed at her. “But don’t think this even begins to make up for the things you’ve done.” The Fiend then started walking away, wanting to get as far away from the CP as quickly as possible.
“Pleasure working with you all,” Dicatta gave a quick bow and then chased after his friend.
The interrogations already started in earnest on the skycraft flight back home. Jaid left herself out of it, relaxing while a Lieutenant took over. But she still heard some loud ramblings from the woman who turned out to be one of the head breeders. It was impressive since she was able to overshadow Dura who was chatting nonstop in her other ear.
And for once, Jaid had actually managed to convince Izma to join them up in the cabin. Normally, she stayed in her coffin stored in the cargo bay, but she was able to be lured out with the promise of food like a timid hamster since they’d be serving their dinner on the flight home. But now she was completely covered in a blanket, a hand only protruding on occasion to grab more food or to take a sip of her drink.
It was rapidly approaching her self-imposed bedtime when the Captain finally made it back to her room. She was just wearing basic casual clothes at this point since both her combat outfit and military uniform had been taken for cleaning, though she’d brought her armor back with her in a bag.
She was tired, but still decided to take her second shower for the day when she found some unknown bile in her hair that could have been from a bunch of different monstrous sources. When she emerged from the bathroom, her bed called to her, but there was something she needed to do first—part of her nightly routine before she could fall asleep.
Jaid grabbed a piece of paper and sat down. She began writing a letter, starting with the recipient's name at the top, ‘Drim Drazah’. Every night, she wrote something different. Most days she wrote about the day's events, treating the letter like a diary. On some rough days, she’d vent about her frustrations and feelings, often ranting about her still lingering vexations towards him.
Wistful days would lead her to ask about certain events, members, or citizens in Bisomote. And on the worst days, though she never actually penned it, she’d inquire about their current job openings. That was more as a way to cheer herself up, since even though she liked her current position, everyone would fantasize about quitting from time to time.
Today she wrote about Dicatta and Egawo and her experience working with them, almost writing a pseudo performance evaluation for them—mostly positive with a bit of critique. And of course she added a scathing line or two at the end about Tize. After rereading the letter once she was satisfied, Jaid picked it up, crumpled it into a ball, and threw it at the trash bin that currently held a few others.
The knight had never actually sent any of the letters, and that bin would be overflowing by this point if the Central Peace wasn’t so efficient with their housekeeping. But getting the words out put her mind at ease, an exercise in preventing her emotions from being bottled up, and she often imagined herself speaking to him in person. So strange, the thought of finding comfort in confiding in an enemy, or at least a rival. Maybe it was because she could actually tell him anything and face no repercussions.
After every letter, though, Jaid would find her mind reminiscing about her time in the Fiends For Hire, along with several regrets. That’s where her armor came in handy, so she’d put it on every night to help herself calm down and ease her anxiety.
The knight had figured out the trick long ago after she properly looked into Wental’s Curse. The gauntlets and boots were clearly enchanted by him with a relaxation effect. Though she didn’t want to admit it, the armor had likely saved her ass a few times, helping her stay level-headed under extreme duress. But nights like these were when it was the most comforting. And within moments of her head hitting the pillow, she drifted off to sleep.