Hanaken:

"Serves you right."

The Oni smiled with amusement at her friend's condition. Down on the ground and ass in the air.

The remaining guard shook his head. "Not only do you attack and compromise five guards, but you also flash an agent of the law and two underage girls!? Unacceptable!"

Gentō perked his (upper) head immediately. "Wait! It was for the scheme! I'll change!"

The Oni covered her eyes until the Baku ran out of her sight. She knew about the limitations of shapeshifting. Still, it was so embarrassing...

"So..." She turned her attention to the only obstacle in her path. "Did your helmet protect you from the mist? How cute!"

Hanaken wasn't expecting the hero to go along with her trash talk. However, he apparently loved making others hear his voice. "An astute observation, Oni!" At least someone got it right! "My helmet contains a top-notch filter that purifies the air I breathe from any toxins, including your perverted friend's technique!"

Gentō couldn't let that comment slide. "I can't shapeshift my clothes! Stop calling me a pervert!"

The Oni huffed. "Pervert or not, I want to fight that Human!" She playfully tapped her hand with her own weapon. "You're in no shape to fight, soldier! Better if we stop losing our time!"

Luckily, that weirdo didn't oblige. He danced for a few more seconds before finishing with a fighting stance. "Don't underestimate me, Hanaken! Otherwise, you will fall before The Silver Knight's wrath!"

The Oni chuckled. "You're weird. But hey, if you're strong, I don't care." At least he seemed more fun to fight than the actual Human. That girl didn't leave much of an impression. Was this scheme a waste of time?

The two warriors silently stared at each other for almost a minute. Hanaken was waiting for her opponent to make the first step, but it seemed he expected the same for her. Well, if she had to...

Her grip on the kanabō tightened, and then she charged at the smaller Knight. Each step of her relentless advance caused the earth to crack and shift according to her will. She roared as the club was about to connect with her target!

But... she missed...?

What? Where did he go? A flash of light caught her eye right before the weapon could crush his body against the floor. She thought it was Sun, but clearly something else was in play.

Her eyes searched her surroundings. She looked behind, below, on top of her, in the trees, but that weirdo wasn't anywhere! She had never seen invisibility magic before. It was either that or he fled like a coward.

No, he was definitely here. Otherwise, those stupid children WOULDN'T STOP LAUGHING AT HER! Look at them, all giggling like the mean girls who gave her hell in the past. She still loathed them to that day. Damn you, Kristal!

"Aw, I'm happy I'm entertaining you two!" That made the girls cease immediately. "But I'm not a damn circus!"

Hanaken ran at the two children, only for someone to strike her on the back and send her face-first to the ground. Fuck that guard!

Hanaken got up and slammed her kanabō on the floor, prompting a sizeable portion of the earth to rise and levitate. Her colossal hand grabbed it and threw it at the duo.

As she thought, that forced the guard to intercept the projectile. However, she hadn't taken into account how fast he would be. In one second, he stopped the rock with one hand, and in the next, it was already near her face.

The shattering impact from the boulder made the Oni reel in pain for a few seconds. She had almost lost conscience for a split second. "Damn you! I won't fall for your dirty trick again!"

Her yellow eyes opened again, flaring with the thirst for retribution. However, The Silver Knight had disappeared again. The bright side was that the girls weren't laughing anymore.

Good. Hanaken wasn't a joke-

A strange pressure on the top of her head could be felt. Was that motherfucker just standing there?!

"I think you should do everyone a favor and stop wasting our time. Go home, and I'll let you go free."

That son of a whore. How could he humiliate her like this?! Treating her as a child throwing a tantrum! She wouldn't stand for this!

The Oni tried to swing her club again, but it only hit the air once more. She saw the hero backflipping from her head and back to the ground.

That was it. Hanaken wouldn't hold anything back!

She ditched her kanabō and flexed her bulging muscles. Her veins popped off into view as red Saniya oozed from her pores, and the earth shook in response to her might. They would all see how strong she really-

"ROCKET CRASH!"

...

......

.........

A golden fist made a direct hit on her gut.

Her body lost its strength all at once. Sharp bursts of pain came in between the numbness. Her legs, thick and reliable as the roots of the oldest trees in Sayama, wobbled like jelly. Only a familiar voice echoed in her mind before she was claimed by the void of thought.

"There you go! Now I'm fully dressed- OH WAIT! NO!"

Then, only darkness came.

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Stella:

"How durable is this guy?!"

The girl's new enemies were quickly neutralized by the Knight. She had forgotten how strong he was. What did that say about Grýla?

More importantly, it was impressive how the pervert was relatively fine after a 9-foot-tall wall of muscle fell upon him. He pathetically squirmed with only his head and chubby hands outside his partner's crushing presence.

Not only was he a degenerate, but a weird creature as well. He looked like a black and white pig with a longer snout than usual.

Huh? Why did he look familiar?

"Not even guards can resist my dream mist!"

Dream? That creature...

No, there was no way! That monster was weirder, scarier, and looked more like a walking fever dream than a strange swine.

However, anything could be twisted to an unimaginable degree in a dream, right? Whatever this Monoke is, if he works with dreams, it is a possibility.

Stella marched towards the Monoke with the desire for answers. Nobody would invade her personal mind space again!

She shoved the hero aside and grabbed the chubby creature by his snout. "You piece of shit! You were the one who was eating my fucking dream, weren't you?!"

His voice got weirder when she tightened her grip on his nose. It almost broke her out from her ruthless act. "I-I'll admit, I'm the one who did that to you! I'm sorry, okay?! Your dream is just too delicious, that's all!"

That piqued the Knight's interest for some reason. "Wait, was all of this just so you could feed from her dreams?"

He nodded. "Yeah! I wanted to get stronger. When I found my first Human in centuries, I got excited!"

The hero knelt closer to him. "So you three are not part of the Tizohi's Chosen?"

Tizohi's Chosen? Wait, three of them?! She only saw two!

As if the universe had read her mind, the third member revealed himself when an invisible force pushed her and the Knight away from the dream Monoke.

She couldn't believe he was at it again, but that Amikiri was indeed tailing her for the third time. What was with the Monoke she met? She couldn't be left alone for a single day!

The snake-lobster creature tried to lift the giant with his wind powers, but it appeared he was having some performance issues.

"You weak, miserable pushover! What's taking you so long?!" Desperation dripped from the pig-like Monoke.

"That captain shocked me to a crisp! I'm too weak now!" The Amikiri hovered only a few inches above the ground.

The Silver Knight approached the trio of failures, hands on his hips. "You three may not be with those terrorists, but you're still criminals! Hopefully, some time in a cell will make you rethink your life choices."

The Amikiri held his claws in the air while the Baku... Well...

"Damn it... Damn it, damn it, DAMN IT!" He slammed his tiny fists on the ground over and over again.

"If you think I'll spend years in jail in this miserable place, you're WRONG! I will get out of here! I will obtain the ultimate power! NO MATTER WHAT!!!"

The Baku's eyes glowed in an ominous purple, which spread and coated his entire body. He huffed, pouring more of his purple gas into the air. However, rather than putting anyone to sleep, it covered his partner's sleeping body, then slowly lifted her in the air.

As Stella was transfixed by the god-like creature, flashes of her dream passed through her eyes. Her exciting traversal through the cosmos, the exhilarating and terrifying gas cloud, the monster who ruined everything...

The latter was cackling while the air became more challenging to breathe. It could have been the girl's panic, but she didn't have the time to check.

"DO YOU SEE NOW, FOOLS! THIS IS A BAKU'S TRUE POTENTIAL! WITH ONLY ONE DREAM EATEN, I HAD SURPASSED ALL OF YOUR PUNY POWER!" His aura flared up. "KNEEL BEFORE ME AND BOW TO YOUR-"

"SHUT UP, ALREADY!" Lien kicked him so hard that he flew beyond the hills. A girly scream was the last sound heard from him.

The Oni's floating body slowly followed her companion, meaning the only one left was...

"I'm so sorry!" The Amikiri was shaking, absolutely terrified of Lien. "Goodbye!" He flew as fast as he could in his condition. Fear was one hell of a motivator.

Welp! That was the last they would see from them, Stella hoped.

Lien chuckled. "So much for a Baku's full potential..." She turned to them, who were still astounded by the pup's act. "You guys okay?"

Stella slowly nodded, still slack-jawed. "Yep. Just peachy."

----------------------------------------

"Are they awake yet?"

"No, Lien! If they do, you'll know!" The girls repeated this song and danced for the eleventh time with few variations.

The pup sighed loudly and lay on the green pasture. Stella chose to distract her with conversation. Better than having to hear the same question more eleven times in a row.

"You did some brave stuff, Lien. I'm impressed!"

The Wolf's attitude sparkled with only that amount of praise. Gosh, she was so cute! "You liked it?!"

The Human snickered. "Why wouldn't I? You have guts, girl."

Stella fought the urge to call her a good girl. Lien was a canine, but... still a sentient being and all...

Damn it! Looking at her with such childlike enthusiasm was too much for her heart. She wanted to pet that Wolf so hard! Maybe a belly rub or-

"Man, I'm lonely..." She slowly facepalmed.

The Knight was watching over the Lycan Squad's unconscious bodies, ready for any bad reaction they could have from that mist. Lien had paced around her sleeping mother from time to time. It was heart-wrenching, even if the Human girl didn't like the captain much.

She stared at the Knight and frowned. "I can't keep doing this forever. Just talk to him once, damn it!"

Stella reluctantly dragged her feet closer to him. "Hey, dude." She sat.

"Hello, Stella!" He didn't appear to be affected at all. That was for the best.

"I-I... Uh..." She had the right words right there, stuck on her throat. She just needed to let it out. "I-I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what? You've been great!"

"Apologizing for what, Stella?" Of course, Lien wouldn't leave her. She was glued to her for the foreseeable future.

Obviously, Stella couldn't reveal Asra to the pup. But she did some stupid stuff before that. She could at least make up for a few things.

"For... putting you guys in danger in that cave. If I hadn't confronted the Ogres in that lair, we wouldn't almost die."

The Wolf was the first to defend her. "But! If you guys didn't save me back then, I would've been stuck in that cage for much longer! It was hell!"

The Knight contributed. "The one at fault there was me. I was so excited about meeting the Ogres that I underestimated the potential danger. I was the adult among us. I should've made a better judgment."

The girl grimaced at the memory of him sacrificing his life to delay Grýla's self-destruction. "It couldn't have been easy to throw your life away for us."

He quickly dismissed her claims. "Only a day's work for a committed member of the Dragon's Guard! If you can't expect a hero to forfeit their life to save others, are they worthy of the title?! I don't think so."

Stella didn't respond. She wanted to apologize for that pathetic breakdown yesterday. However, avoiding the secret identity part of their conversation would be awkward and complicated to succeed. Maybe when there are fewer prying ears.

Afterward, silence reigned among them. Well, that is what I would say if Lien wasn't running in circles, desperate for action.

"C'mon, guys! We can't just sit here and do nothing! Ooh! Let's spar!"

Spar with Lien? Stella loved a good scrap, but she wasn't braindead. The pup didn't look like she pulled her punches.

Her hunch was validated by the hero quickly volunteering to be the pup's training dummy. "Stella, allow me. You'll need a lot more training before joining her."

She scoffed. "I wasn't going to. Good luck, man. You'll need it."

The Humans shared a chuckle before the hero made his fighting stance again. "I'm ready, Lien!"

The Wolf... didn't move a muscle. Lien's head was turned to the deep woods beside them. Stella had an uncomfortable feeling about this.

The Knight asked. "Lien, what's wrong?"

The pup kept silent for a few seconds. "We have company."

Stella immediately stood up upon hearing that. Could-

"Argh!"

A sharp pain in her stomach. Her body started shaking.

She looked downward and...

......

A tiny blade on her stomach. A small red puddle tainted the green grass.