That Time I Got Sent to Another World Where All of the Girls Are Super Hot and Super Into Me Because I Am Super Strong and Have Very Powerful Abilities that God Gave to Me Because Me and Them Were Friends When I Was in Grade School and God Is Actually A Loli Who is Also in Love with Me Because I Am A Super Epic Person Who Will Defeat The Demon Lord Who Threatens The Entire World but the Demon Lord Actually is in Love With Me and the Demon Lord is a Super Hot Busty Babe Who is Actually Just Trying to Get My Attention Because I Have a Cellphone That Can Contact the Internet and Can Get Anything Shipped To Me Within 2 Days But I Barely Need It Because I Am Actually the Most Strongest Guy Alive Because I Have Super Strong Powers Like Being Able to Lift Your Mom Really Easily Which is Nearly Impossible Because Your Mom is So Fat But is Actually A Secret Anime Busty Babe Who is Really into Me Because I Am Super Cool and Better Than Your Dad Because He is Super Lame Which I Am Not:

Turnabout 2.12 - In Which Bonbon Meets a Warrior on a Mission From God

Bonbon stared in upside-down shock at her savior. The woman's armor had the Divine Brat's emblem on a long sash tied about the waist. This must have been one of the Kamikist paladins that they'd been sent to help.

The paladin was walking towards her, her mace resting on one of her shoulders, which were covered by an ornate set of short, steel spaulders. She extended one vambrace-covered arm and offered Bonbon a hand.

The elf reached and grabbed it, and was suddenly yanked up and out of the bush in a prodigious show of strength. The paladin shook Bonbon's hand, which also happened to shake her arm, shoulder, and the rest of her, twigs and bits of leaves flying off as her new friend shook her out like an old rug.

"There ya go, good as new," the paladin said with a smile, patting Bonbon on the shoulder. Bonbon gave all three of the paladins a weak smile, trying to manually stop the world from spinning by holding the sides of her head with her hands. The paladin thumped her chest, causing a slight tremor to go through her cleavage, which protruded from the top of the oddly low-cut breastplate.

Bonbon raised an eyebrow. She was a bit surprised, glancing at the woman's unprotected upper chest, head, and underarms. She hadn't expected the Kamikist paladin orders to have armor that was so... conservative. This one's breastplate covered her entire torso, and she was even wearing chainmail leggings!

Bonbon personally preferred more practical, conventional armor, like a cloth chef's coat or an apron. But, that was probably in part due to the fact that her Mojo was abysmally low for an Elf, especially a [Princess]. Paladins tended to have pretty hefty Mojo bonuses, so flashy was the way to go. Chainmail bikinis were pretty common, and some of the highest-level [Paladins] of Flavos went into battle wearing nothing but an apron and pauldrons. Bonbon snapped out of her thoughts as she realized that the Paladin was introducing herself.

"Huh?" She asked.

"Ciel," the woman repeated, tapping her chest again. "Ciel Pareiso."

"Um... Bonbon A. Petit," Bonbon replied, giving a polite bow of her head. "Thank you for the help. I thought I was done for..."

Ciel grinned a smile, but it quickly faded, as a noise from the direction of the impact crater drew their attention. Ciel looked over, her face suddenly serious. She shrugged off the massive shield on her back, slipping her arm through its straps.

"Don't thank me yet. It looks like we've still got some fighting to do."

Bonbon's stomach clenched, and she followed Ciel's gaze to the wall of rock that her [Giga Impact] had raised. The [Valley Elf] raiders had collected themselves after their traffic jam, and were starting to regroup. They looked like they'd taken a hell of a beating from Ciel's attack, but weren't down and out yet. They were licking their wounds, unsheathing their weapons, and reapplying their lip balm. Bonbon and Ciel had maybe a minute or two to prepare themselves.

Could... they win? Bonbon glanced at her rescuer and activated her [Elf Eyes], appraising Ciel's Level:

Human

[Level: 18]

Well... that was pretty good. But, it wasn't 7v2 good. Bonbon backed up a bit, gripping the handle of her knife and wishing she hadn't left all the rest of her equipment back with the cart.

"Should we run?" she asked, glancing at the road beyond the bend. Her horse was still there, eating some grass with a somewhat offended air about him. In response, Ciel just gave her a confused look.

"Huh? Why would I run? I got them right where we want them."

Bonbon was well-versed in etiquette, and so she did not ask Ciel whether she was a madwoman or a fool. Instead, she decided to pretend she'd misheard Ciel.

"I beg your pardon?"

Ciel flashed her a confident grin, flexing a 'cep. "These guys've been a real pain lately. We've been trying to catch them, but with their birds, they can get away too easily. If they think we're an easy target, we can lure 'em right into our trap."

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Bonbon gave the paladin a curious look. Ciel shot a quick glance at the raiders before leaning in towards Bonbon, lowering her voice.

"Backup is on the way," she informed her. "That's why I was waiting on top of the cliff. I knew the [Valley Elves] would be in the area, so I was keeping watch. I figured I'd be able to get the drop on them, and I was right!"

Bonbon paused and looked up the cliff face. It was a sheer wall, that easily rose a good 50 feet. She arched an eyebrow at the paladin.

"You mean, you..."

"Got the drop on them. Yeah."

Bonbon frowned. "I don't think... That's not what 'getting the drop'... Never mind." She shook her head. Clearly, it had worked out pretty well, so she wasn't going up ask unnecessary questions about people willingly jumping off cliffs.

"Listen," Ciel told her, rolling her shoulders a she did some pre-murder warm-ups. "I dunno if you can fight, so you can run if you need to, but I'm staying. I'm not gonna let them get away."

Ciel raised her shield protectively, bracing it ahead of her. Bonbon glanced at her horse again. Even if Ciel lost, Bonbon could probably get enough of a lead to lose the raiders, or at least find somewhere to hide. She took a deep breath, her hand tightening on the handle of her knife.

"Alright," she said, falling into line next to the paladin. "We just need to keep them distracted, right?"

Ciel grinned again, as the raiders assembled and faced off against the pair.

"What do we have here?" Heather called out, her voice sweet and savage with merciless contempt. "Looks like a loser party!"

She stared at the pair with undisguised hatred, her face already starting to blossom with bruises from her full-speed impact into the edge of Ciel's opening attack. The rest of the raiders, too, were a patchwork quilt of pink and purple.

They looked worse the wear, but Bonbon was unhappy to note that none of them had been taken out. Still... she'd scored a few good hits earlier, so at least some of them should be pretty low on HP.

"I've like, had it up to here with you," Heather growled, holding a flat hand up at chest level. "I'm done playing around!

She whistled, spurring her rockatiel into action. At once, the raiders began to circle the pair, whooping and hollering as the brandished their weapons.

Bonbon turned, pressing her back against Ciel's in a badass buddy cop action movie way. Ciel glanced back at her and nodded once, apparently fine with trusting a scrawny elf in a sundress and apron to guard her back.

Pigtails drew in close and swing her war-pick at Ciel, who twisted and caught it head-on with her shield. Another swept in with a bone axe and swiped at Bonbon, who expertly cowered behind her [Unbreakable Apron].

Ciel ducked down as Not-Kelly swung at her, letting the attack whiz over her head before countering with an Arte.

"[Divine Strike]!" she shouted, swinging her mace in an upwards arc. A massive, glowing copy of the mace sprang into being, superimposed on her weapon. It followed the course of her swing, digging a trench through the ground before catching the raider from below, slamming into her with a mace head the size of a refrigerator. Ciel grunted and carried through with her swing, sending the raider and her mount soaring into the air. The limp body of the raider launched from the saddle, ragdolling through the air while the mount flew dizzily back to the foothills, clearly having had enough.

As soon as the attack landed home, the spectral weapon faded away. After a few seconds and a distant thud, Bonbon heard the voice of the Divine Word enter her mind:

"ENEMY SLAIN"

Well... That was one down. Bonbon turned and lifted her hand at the circle of raiders, the glyph on the back of her hand glowing.

"[Create Food]!" she cast, spraying a stream of cooking oil out into their path. A few of the raiders began to lose control of their mounts, sliding over the slick surface of the road. She held her knife at the ready, but just as she spotted an opening to strike out, Heather swung in from the side, slamming her Mace down. Bonbon barely had time to turn, swinging her apron up with one arm.

A sharp pain shot through Bonbon's arm, and she felt her HP drop again. The Divine Word spoke once more.

Status Gained: Crippled - [Left Arm]

Physical Attributes reduced. Skills using [Left Arm] limited.

Achievement Unlocked: [Mostly Armless]

Bonbon grit her teeth, trying to ignore the throbbing from her arm. Heather shot her a triumphant grin as she peeled away, looking for another opening.

"Nngh..." She groaned, leaning back against Ciel for support. Ciel blocked a wild swing from Heart Eyepatch, who stayed to deliver another two blows, shoving Ciel back a half-step with each swing. Ciel lifted her mace to counter, and Heart Eyepatch swiftly withdrew, replaced by Kelly, who came charging in from the opposite side.

Too late to bring her shield around, Ciel shifted her head back, the hammer bouncing harmlessly off of her cleavage, her Mojo's protection emanating out from the point of impact as a series of octagonal orange rings. Ciel winced slightly. The attack hadn't done much, but it'd still been enough to shave some HP off.

She swung out with her own mace, catching a glancing blow against Kelly's leg. She lifted her shield as another surge of attacks came from the opposite side. Behind her, Bonbon was panting as she fended off another attacker.

"Where... where is the rest of your order?" she asked the [Paladin]. Ciel did a quick double-take at her between attacks.

"Huh? What do you mean? I came here alone."

Bonbon froze, fortunately ignoring a feint and the subsequent attack that swept through the space she was about to dodge into.

"What."

"Huh?"

Bonbon cast [Fistful of Spice], throwing a handful of ground pepper to blind an approaching raider. "What do you mean, you came alone?" she clarified, her voice raising in angry disbelief. "You said there were reinforcements coming!"

"Uh, yeah," Ciel replied matter-of-factly, a layer of excitement layered over her voice. "Kamiko told us in the last [Divine Visitation], a divine prophecy. There's a [Gold Rank] adventuring team coming this way. Based on the [High Battle-Priestess]'s calculations, they should be passing through soon. There's only the one road, and I haven't passed them yet, so they should be really close!"

A [Gold Rank] team? Bonbon nodded to herself. [Gold Rank] adventurers were pretty powerful, the kind of people you'd call in to stop a nation-wide threat. A pack of raiders would be no problem for them. So... why didn't she feel relieved?

"What, um... do you know the name of the [Gold Rank] team?"

Ciel tapped her chin, her ahoge waving of its own volition as she thought. She idly lifted her shield to deflect another attack from one of the raiders.

"Um... I dunno, don't remember it off the top of my head. The Hero, or something like that?"

Ah. Of course. Bonbon looked down the road, in the direction of the cart, where Hiro was likely still floating gently in the back. All around her, the raiders were giggling, driven into a battle frenzy as they rode circles around the pair.

Another raider came swooping in for attack, and Bonbon lifted her arm again to block it, feeling her shoulder starting to go numb. She winced and turned to Ciel, her stomach tying itself into knots.

"Um... so... about those reinforcements..."