As she guided the blood in her hand back to its usual path Sadashi ends the technique, turning her black skin back to its normal back to its normal skin tone. Staring down at the decapitated bulls head reminded Sadashi of the first time she used this Technique on human flesh.

She had cried so much that day, so much so that her eyes turned red. It wasn’t because she was afraid of the blood, or because of the harm she had done. No, she was angry with herself for not making the decision for that moment. When her mother saw her crying she tried to comfort her, telling her about her own experiences with and how it was going to be ok.

But in the end, she did warn Sadashi not to show anyone her tears but those she could trust. Thinking back on such things truly warmed Sadashi’s heart.

Looking over to the side to watch Sebastian approach the place she stood before standing at attention.

“Sebastian, you have chosen to serve me. This is a long path and there is much to do.” Sadashi said coolly. “Though you are inadequate for your responsibilities you must work hard to overcome this.”

“As you wish master.” He said with stoic determination as he began processing the Bull.

-Time Skip: a month at the elven village of Wood Hurst-

The drumming of the march responded as the human army approached the elven village, rows of soldiers lining themselves up in front of the village’s gate giving off an imposing aura. However, this was not an unforeseen event, these troops were commonly called collectors.

And just as their name implies thieve come to collect.

Hours pass by with no movement from either side until a Solder in flashy armor strolled forward. With a self-satisfied grin, the man opened a scroll and began to read.

“Here this now, you are now in an audience to the decree of the Kingdom of Slera.” The man shouted pompously as he revealed a discussing smile as he fainted sympathy. “Due to the recent activity of the Demon’s forces the Slara Kingdom have seen fit to give you are an aid.”

Pausing to look at the elves in front of him the man continued his speech, with a voice so thick with mock sympathy you could cut it with a knife.

“However, nothing in this world is free and all things have their price. All we ask is that once every year you hand over 50 adult elves to our forces, in exchange for their noble ‘services’ we will guaranty your protection.” The fat bastard said threateningly as he revealed a slimy smile. “If you fail to pay the protection fees or if you reject our ‘Generosity’ then we will assume you have allied with the demons, if such a thing were to happen we would have no other choice but to attack. I don’t think I need to ask for your approval, after all, it would be a shame if such a thing where to happe-*”

*Swoosh*

Suddenly an arrow clad in blue light pierces the scroll the gaudy knight was holding, effectively cutting him off as he scrambled behind his escorts. Turning to face the attacker only to find the village chief handing his bow off to his aid.

Standing their straight-backed the Elven man looked down on the overdressed solder, one didn’t have to be an empath to see the indignation and rage in his eyes.

“Leave now fools, we have nothing for you monsters in human skin!” The elven chief shouted at the human soldiers much to the surprise of both them and his own subordinates.

It’s not hard to imagine why the chief was so angry with such a proposal, honestly, the human king’s depravity was truly disappointing. How could he demand such a thing from them, if they had demanded for their rations then maybe the chief would have humored them.

After all its easy for one to part with food and potions, but to demand they sell their brethren into slavery was beyond foul. Taking away 50 of their kin was akin to asking them to die. For such a small village of elves living on the border of the human and demon kingdoms they already didn’t have much to spare, to ask for so many of their kin was insulting.

However, the fat knight didn’t take well to those words as his face turns a deep red. This was the first time he had received this kind of treatment from the elves before. Every time he came to this village he wouldn’t even need to lift a finger, all he would need to do is speak the demands of his majesty and they would agree without question. If they did they would face complete annihilation and enslavement.

‘How can these pathetic twigs not know their place!’ The fat knight though enraged as he signaled for his men to leave.

“I will remember this!” He yelled as he tucked his tail between his legs.

Seeing this the elven chief sighed in relief as he let his tension go. Walking back into the village the chief summoned all the leaders for a meeting, and today's topic was the rather important matter of their defenses.

-Time Skip: half an hour-

“Are you insane Arlen!!!” Shouted one of the elders at the top of their lungs. “Why didn’t you agree with them, are you daft in the head or do you want all of us to die!?”

“Oh, are you suggesting that we have 50 strong to spare Zaor, or are you just noble enough to volunteer?” Arlen rebuked as he shot a disgusted glare at the old man. “Besides it didn’t matter if I had agreed to their terms they would have attacked us anyway! They’ve been eyeing this forest for years now, and now that a war is brewing they’d only want it more! This forest is our home we must protect it according to the High Elves!”

“The High Elves have been dead for decades now they’ve fallen to ruin and their era is finished.” Spoke another council member as they stepped forward, completely ignoring the foolish old man who was currently fuming in the back. “Even if we were to defend this forest the only power they left us is that Summoning Gate, and all of the guardians that would have heard that call are long dead.”

What the woman said was true the Human Empires had seen to their extinction. During the years after the last great war, the humans had been quite opportunistic, hunting down every one of the once great High Elves and their Nature Guardians.

Honestly, if they could call a nature guardian they wouldn’t be having these problems, to begin with. With their sheer might, they could just shrug off the human kingdom’s advances.

“I know that Connall, but are you suggesting we run?” Arlen asked the man. “All of our escape roots have been cut off. The Demons territory is far too dangerous for us to flee through, and the Beast Kings sill does not stand for our kind in their territory. Usually, if we wanted to flee we would do it through the human’s territory, but even then, we would just be picked off and enslaved! We have nowhere left to run and the only way we can surviving thi-!”

“Uncle~!” A voice shouted cutting Arlen’s sentence off as an adorable little girl trough herself at him.

Hearing the voice of his beloved niece melted Arlen’s the usually stoic face as he caught her. Carrie the adorable little four-year-old was all he had left of his sister Ava. Her clear jade-like eyes, pale skin, and white shoulder length hair that made the little girl look like purity incarnate. Coupled with her cute little face and cat ears and tail that marked her as a half Beast made her the cutest thing you’d ever see.

However, the same Beast kin features that gave her this beauty made her hatted among elves. A fact made more apparent by how the five elders didn’t even try to hide their disgust.

You see Elves and the Beasts have never been on good terms since the last great war. Some elves even go so far as to call them animals, because of these children like Carrie are seen as despicable abominations. But that mattered little to Ava as she was a woman in love.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Seven years ago, she had fallen head over heels for a Beast-kin warrior by the name of Vorg. He was a persistent and honest man with his heart on his sleeve, so much so that it’s no surprise Ava fell for him no matter how much the elders tried to persuade her.

At first, even Arlen thought the same of the Beast-kin, but that soon changed as he saw how much he meant to his sister. Even when the elders asked him to get rid of Vorg he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Especially now that Ava was pregnant, but that was the last straw for the elders.

Using high elven law, they had banished her from the forest. Tossing them into the human kingdom without even giving them a second to argue. But that was just an excuse to kill them, as it didn’t take long for the ‘Collectors’ to arrive with the intention of taking his sister as a slave.

Even when Arlen had begged the elders to save his sister he was too late. The town Ava had settled in was in ruins as the Collectors had burned it to the ground. Even by the time, he found Ava she had already passed as she was holding a crying infant, and Vorg surrounded by corpses.

He died on his feet though it’s hard to tell how he managed that. Vorg was missing an arm and riddled with arrows. He looked like a man who should have long since fallen but somehow, he was still standing there as if his unwavering rage held him up.

Arlen made a point to carve the human generals face into his memory, he would never forget the atrocities that man had committed. He would not forgive him, nor would he forgive this village for what they had done.

But that was four years ago and he needed to take care of Carrie.

“What is it, my Soul?” Arlen asked hugging Carrie.

“Uncle~ I heard what you were talking au-about from the other side of the door~!” Carrie said excitedly. “Will I need to call ou-our Guardian?

Smiling Arlen puts Carrie down, she had always liked the stories he told her about the old High Elves and their Epic Guardians.

“Listen well Carrie, guardians only appear from the Summoning Gate before those who truly need them. If you want to meet a guardian then you have to truly wish for them.” Arlen said boldly.

“Really?” Carrie said as she looked up at her uncle with sparkling eyes.

“Yeah, really.” Arlen said ruffling her hair.

Giggling she ran to the summoning room before getting on her knees and praying, leaving Arlen to his meeting with the elders.

-Time Skip: a couple of hours-

Walking into the summoning room Arlen finds Carrie sleeping in the circle, deathly cold and shivering. Panicking Arlen rushed over to her side as he poured nature energy into her and picked her up.

Since the day they found her Carrie had been chilled to the bones, and dealing with a condition they had never seen before. Carrie’s body can’t heal its self or recharge energy on its own and needs to be recharged. If she doesn’t get it in time or stops moving she freezes over and loses consciousness.

-Time Skip: the day after-

The morning after the summoning fiasco the first thing Arlen does is check on Carrie. Quietly he sneaks off to her room to check if she’s ok only to find the room empty. Panicking Arlen searches the house nonstop looking for her only to come up empty-handed.

Racking his brains for where she could have gone Arlen stumbles into the summoning room, and sure enough there she was.

Wearing her favored white dress and sitting in front of the summoning alter Carrie’s looked like a shrine maiden. Only the way her ears poised and her tail swished from side to side made it clear she was excited.

“Hey Carrie, what are you doing?” Arlen asked gently.

“Uncle~!” She shouted as she threw herself at him. “Uncle~, I just talked with the guardian!”

“Oh, really now~!?” Arlen said playing along. “And what did she say snowflake?”

“She said that if I really~ need her help I have to stand in the circle and call out her name.” Carrie said innocently as she stared up at her uncle with her big green eyes.

“Is that so? Well, I need to go snowflake.” Arlen said as he summoned a small service golem for her too play with. “If you need anything then just ask Clay here, okay?”

“Nnn~!” Carrie said nodding her head vigorously as Arlen walked out of the room.

After seeing Arlen off as he made his way to the defense meetings Carrie quickly got to work. Practically bouncing off her feet the little girl wasted no time, turning to the toddler shaped clay doll Carrie began ordering it around.

“Hay~ Mister Clay can you get me some of that special water uncle always drinks? Miss Guardian said I needed to give a sacrifice to form a contract.” She said sternly, completely oblivious to the fact that she was asking the golem for wine.

Hearing Carrie’s absurd request the clay figurine didn’t even bat an eye as he puttered off to the wine cellar. Looking through Arlen’s selection of wine the little golem picked up a bottle labeled ‘Tears of the Moon’, it's Arlen’s most prized possession and is said to cleanse the spirit.

Seeing the little golem hop toward her with her uncle’s favorite wine Carrie happily accepted it.

“Is this good enough Miss Guardian?” Carrie asked innocently poring the expensive wine onto the ground, letting the alter sock it up as it starts to glow with a faint green-blue before fading out.

Seeing that the summoning had failed Carrie’s little ears fell as she became disheartened.

“Don’t give up now little one.” A disembodied voice whispered encouraging her. “You did a good job forming our contract, but if you want to summon me then I need another bottle of that wine.”

“Okay~!” Carrie shouted with renewed vigor as she sends the golem to get another bottle and waited for her uncle to get back.

-Time Skip: another hour-

Walking into the front door the Arlen immediately noticed something was wrong. The house was eerily quiet and covered in the sick sent of alcohol. Walking through the house Arlen’s tension only tightened as he noticed the wine cellar’s door was open, as. Panicking Arlen rushes to the summoning room to find his adorable niece passed out and cuddling an empty bottle of his best wine.

“CARRIE WHAT DID YOU DO!!!?” Arlen shouted at the top of his lungs, dashing over to his unconscious niece as he shook her awake.

Startled by the loud sounds and jarring movements unsurprisingly made Carrie wake up kicking and screaming.

“Nyaaa~?!!!!!” Carrie screamed as she desperately tried to get out of Arlen’s grip. “Uncle Arlen is that you?”

“Carrie are you ok? What happened? And what were you doing in the wine cellar!” Arlen spluttered nervously.

“I’m fine uncle can you please put me down I have something to show you!” Carrie said playfully swinging her tail as she picked up the wine bottle. “Miss Guardian said I could summon her if I gave her some of your special water, but since you didn’t believe me when I told you last time I waited for you to get home!”

“Wait Snowflake what are you talking about?” Arlen said confused.

Uncorking the bottle of Moon Tears, Carrie didn’t waste time listening to her uncle’s protests. Poring the wine directly into the altar as she begone the summoning much to Arlen’s surprise.

Glowing its distinct green-blue light the Summoning Gate slowly revealed the figure of their guardian. One that resembled that of a tall and beautiful High elven woman with black and white hair that completely ensnared Arlen’s gaze.

Completely enraptured by her perfect figure he barely noticed several key differences. Like the small horns growing out of her head and hetero chromic red-gray eyes that most certainly were not elvish.

“So, where’s the enemy little one?” Sadashi said snapping Arlen out of his daze leaving him absolutely dumbfounded with the sight in front of him.