Senna watched, dumbfounded, as her new traveling companion beat the life from the wolftoad with her bare hands. Her fucking bare hands.

The mana Senna felt coursing through the strange girl’s veins wasn’t all that much more in quantity than she herself contained, but it was pure and potent like nothing Senna had ever felt before.

What is she? Senna wondered silently, and not for the first time.

The strange girl had said that she was from another world, but Senna was skeptical. Sure, she was odd, and seemed to have little knowledge of the world around her, but it was still an odd thing, to introduce oneself as such so casually.

Senna felt that she had every reason to mistrust the girl, she didn’t know her after all. But, she seemed well meaning enough. Still, Senna was wary.

Then, Senna’s danger sense flared as a slimy tongue flew from the river behind her.

“Aria!” Senna shouted a warning, her hand grasping the hilt at her waist. There was a slight ring of metal as the sword left its scabbard.

But, she didn’t need to intervene.

The naked girl’s hand shot out over her shoulder, and, without even looking, she grasped the slimy appendage that was aimed for her head.

Senna felt the girl’s power flare as black flames exploded from her palms, the demonic fire racing down the tongue like a pack of starved wolves, the potent and ravaging energies sending a chill down Senna’s spine.

The water didn’t even sizzle as the fire met it, running forward and disappearing into the depths where the other wolftoad snuck.

Senna watched, horrified, as another of the beasts rose from the water, its hoarse croak of a roar reaching her ears. The beast was twice the size of the one that Aria was currently engaged with and harsh scarring marred its bloated flesh.

Senna unconsciously took a step backward, her sword wavering slightly in her hand.

Almost out of the iron realm.

Senna realized quickly that the beast was at least twice the monster Aria was currently engaged with. She turned her shaking gaze back to Aria just in time to see the other beast fall, its chest heaving in heavy rasping breaths. The beast barely even registered to Senna’s danger sense, its energy almost wholly spent.

No. Senna thought with dawning horror. Not spent. Consumed.

She could feel it. Those evil-looking black flames were devouring the creature’s mana alongside its life force. “What are you?” Senna mumbled, taking another conscious step back, this time from the wild form of the girl.

For her part, the wild girl didn’t even shoot her a glance, looking away from the fallen beast, her focus locking onto the other monster. Her wildness seemed to dim, her face taking on a severe expression as she faced the new threat.

“Well? Come on then!” The girl roared her challenge, and the beast obliged her, running from the water at a speed nearly surpassing Senna’s own.

The girl met it, her foot lashing out, coated in dark flames. There was a loud crack as her foot met the interloper's own. A roaring croak of agony followed as the beast fell on its now limp appendage.

Senna stared at the contact, transfixed as she felt, more than saw, the duel of wills taking place within the beast. The Wolftoad’s mana flared, fighting against the invading black flame.

Another sickening crack resounded as the girl punched the beast with all her might.

Her fist, unused to striking with such force, exploded, red gore showering over the beast as the girl screamed. White flame flared on the girl’s pulped hand, reknitting the flesh and bone in an instant. The girl’s scream of pain died off, falling into an exasperated laugh.

Maybe she is from another world.

Senna couldn’t be sure if Aria was being truthful or not, but she seemed to at least be new to the power she now held. Senna didn’t have to be a saint to see that it was uncontrolled. The girl was simply throwing her all into every attack, and her body couldn’t take it.

With every kick, every punch, the girl damaged her body, using her power like a crude child. She put her all into every attack, never holding back so that her weaker body remained whole. She fought more like a beast than the monster before her. The holy white flame, the only thing that kept her whole.

Senna could feel the girl’s mana raging like a river during the rainy season. Untamed, raw power coursing throughout Aria’s body.

In a flash, the beast swung its bulbous head around, its open mouth clamping down on Aria’s outstretched arm. Senna started, images of the wounds many hunters sported coming back to her mind. Flesh ground into mulch, bones grated and shattered, punching through the flesh they were made to support.

Aria screamed as her arm was doubtlessly ground to fleshy mulch like all the others Senna had witnessed. From her position several meters from the brutal battle, Senna heard the crunching and sickening squelching noises coming from the beast’s mouth.

Her own arm started to itch with the perceived pain. Her legs shook at the feeling, bile rising in the back of her throat. She wanted to run, to flee. Why hadn’t the girl run? They couldn’t kill this thing.

With a final ever sickening crunch and a scream of agony, the girl fell back from the wolftoad’s mouth, her shoulder oozing blood from where her arm had been ground from her body.

Senna could barely see the wound so bright were the white flames lashing from the stump. With a scream, filled with as much rage and agony Senna had ever heard, Aria jumped onto the beast’s back, her naked thighs wrapping around the warted flesh like a vice. Her unsevered right arm rose into the air and struck down with all the force Aria possessed.

The white fire flared again, attempting to knit back the fist that had become pulp, and still, the girl brought her fist down again, and again, beating the creature and coating its head in her blood. Her shattered knuckles stuck out like knives of bone, gouging and ripping into the beast’s skull, dealing more damage than a fist ever should’ve been able.

The beast roared in its croaking voice, turning and fleeing for the river it had crawled from. Still, the girl held tight, like a sore on the beast’s wart-filled skin. Both girl and beast disappeared under the river’s waters and out of Senna’s sight.

She stretched her perception, but saw nothing, she felt it though, the whirling war of mana that took place under the surface. Bubbles and blood rose to the water’s surface, clouding it before washing downstream with the small current the river held.

After what felt like forever, a form broke the surface. It was the battered and gory form of a young woman, still a girl really, naked and covered head to toe in raring white flames. She dragged behind her the corpse of a beast that Senna had no hope of facing. The beast was beaten brutally, covered in gore and a roiling mess of black fire that seemed unconcerned of the water it was half submerged in.

Aria threw the beast’s corpse onto the shore and collapsed, her breathing coming in panting gasps.

Senna didn’t move, stunned by the impossible sight.

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…

Aria felt like she’d just gone twelve rounds with Mike Tyson, then been told to run a marathon underwater.

Everything hurt, and she was dead tired. But still, she felt the power rampaging within her, restoring her body. It diminished even as it was refilled by the dark flames that devoured the two corpses.

That had been brutal, and she was half convinced of her death. If it wasn’t for the peculiar magics running through her veins, she would’ve died several times over.

But, that was just it, wasn’t it?

If not for her power, everything in this new world would have killed her. The fish from hell, the vultures, the other toad monsters, even the fruits she used as sustenance, everything would’ve killed her.

But, that was just it, she had this power, and she was still alive.

She rolled onto her side, locking her gaze onto the blonde-haired swordswoman. She went to prop herself up on her arm but fell when the half restored nub of flesh met the ground. She grit her teeth, half against the pain and the other half in frustration at the useless thing she’d once called an arm.

“Well?” She asked, her voice hoarse and ragged. “Can you harvest anything?”

Aria’s words seemed to snap the woman out of her daze, and Senna approached warily, oh so warily, stopping several feet from where Aria lay sprawled on the shore. “Are-” Her voice cracked slightly in fear. “Are you okay?”

Aria huffed a laugh, feeling her body reknitting itself as she did. “I’m great. Just another day at the office. Seriously though, can you? Harvest anything, I mean.”

Senna stared at her for several more long seconds before, with a tiny bob of her head, she set about harvesting the beasts.

…

Red stared at the mushy pile of organs placed on his table, then back up at the blonde woman who had placed said organs there.

The girl was unfamiliar to him, covered in sweat and dried blood, ichor coating the hands she had used to carry the small pile of organs into his shop. Her clothes were shredded, doing all they could to keep her modesty.

She looked shell shocked and dead tired, but he’d seen many hunters in the same state.

He decided not to make the woman wait and got to sifting through the pile of organs. The wrinkled and calloused fingers of his left hand searched through the still somewhat warm pile before him, and he thought, not for the first time, how much easier it would be to do this if he still had both his hands.

The old alchemist spared a quick glance at the empty sleeve where his right arm should’ve been.

Still, it wasn’t an overly hard thing to sift through the pile sitting before him. Many of the organs seemed to have minuscule damages, and there were occasional bits that seemed to have been devoured, still, the quality was incredible.

His years as a merchant flared, nagging him to fleece the girl in front of him, pushing him to point out the flaws and deduct from the total price. However, he was a sucker for hard workers, and the girl in front of him had clearly had a rough time acquiring these bits. Many of the parts were of a higher quality than he was used to, even with the damage, and he knew he could use these to, possibly, make a higher quality potion than the usual slag he cooked up.

The fingers on his left hand drummed along the counter, creating the only noise in the otherwise silent shop. He didn’t mean to fleece the woman, but many of his merchant habits were an ingrained thing. “Several of these organs are damaged, some severely.”

The blonde woman seemed to deflate at that, her shoulders slumping slightly.

“However,” Red’s rasping voice continued. “Looking past that, these are some of the most potent organs I’ve seen come from a wolftoad.”

The woman seemed to become slightly confused at that, her posture shifting uncertainly for a moment before resuming the slightly straighter posture she’d held when she had first entered the shop.

Red nodded. “I’ll take the lot for eight silvers.”

After he proclaimed his price, Red watched the woman’s face expectantly, waiting for her reaction.

She seemed slightly taken aback, but the uncertainty on her features was well hidden. “Deal.” She stated plainly.

Red was disappointed. He always did love a good haggling match. He could no longer hold a sword proper, but words had become his weapon. Oh, to have good haggling partners again. He thought longingly.

But, he didn’t let his thoughts show. Not even a crack shown through his stern wrinkled features. “Deal.” He stated just as plainly, holding out his hand to the young woman. Both of their hands were mucked from touching the organs, so it was no big thing when their hands clasped.

He opened the lockbox beneath the desk, smoothly counting out eight silver ounces and sliding them across to the woman. She took them without hesitation, bowing her head to the old shopkeep. “Thank you, Master Red.”

Red, for his part, just waved the girl away, already back to sorting through the nasty pile of organs.

…

Senna pondered, not for the first time, on the oddity that was her last couple of days. Her hand went unconsciously to the small pile of coins that rested in her last undestroyed pocket. She thought of running with the money, leaving the whole mess behind her and going home.

Home.

But no. Aria had trusted her and was waiting just outside the frontier town for her return. She thought of lying to the girl.

She’d given Aria an estimate during their walk to the town, and the old man had just paid double her highest assumed price. Eight ounces for the organs of a single wolftoad was outrageous. Especially when, like the old shopkeep had said, those organs were damaged and slightly soiled.

She could simply give Aria the amount she’d previously estimated, not telling her of their true value. But, she couldn’t do that, she wouldn’t. She would never betray the trust someone else had put in her, never again.

Her hand fell unconsciously to the hilt of her sword, her fingers wrapping around the familiar weight at her side.

No. She would do as she knew she should, no matter how much her reason screamed at her to just wash her hands of the whole mess.

She stayed in her thoughts as she walked through the frontier town.

Merchants hawked their wares, scantily dressed women stood on corners, oohing and awing at the men passing by, arguments over goods and labor mingled with the everyday clamor of the town.

Finally, Senna stood in front of a less rundown little wooden storefront. A small bell chiming as she walked into the shopfront.

“Be right there.” A woman’s matronly voice drifted from the back room.

So, Senna waited, letting her gaze drift over the garments on display in the waiting area of the little shop.

Many of the articles of clothing were simple working wear for the common man or woman, but the occasional gown was visible among them, standing out like Aria would’ve, had she come into town on, ‘full display’, as she called it.

Senna, once again, found her thoughts drifting to the strange young girl from another world. They’d talked for a bit over their couple hour walk to town and Senna was all-but convinced that the odd girl was truthful in her being from another world. She was just too strange, asking questions that even a pauper child would have answers to. Then jumping around and asking questions that Senna knew would take a scholar to answer. It was just so… odd.

“Oh, Deary.” A woman’s voice pulled Senna to reality, stealing her gaze from the articles of clothing on display.

A somewhat plump and motherly looking woman walked towards Senna from the backroom. She wore nice, if simple, clothes and had a troubled look on her face. Smile lines framed her cheeks and her brown hair was pulled back into a messy bun atop her head.

Senna felt no aura of power from the woman, only the faint mana signature that every mundane held. Still, she put on a warm smile and turned fully to the woman who had stopped a couple feet from her.

“Hello, madam. I’m here to-” but Senna was cut short as the woman began speaking.

“You’re here to get out of those rags. Seriously child. Wearing clothes like that when there are so many fine young men around, unforgivable.”

Senna opened her mouth to protest, but the tailor woman just continued on.

“These clothes won’t even do as rags, all dirty and bloodied as they are. No, no, this just won’t do. A pretty young thing like you needs a proper set of clothes. Quickly dear, put this on. We’ve a changing room behind that door.”

The woman spoke rapidly, occasionally mumbling to herself as she pulled a simple garment from the wall and shoved it into Senna’s hands. She gestured toward a door at the edge of the shop, clearly not taking anything but okay for an answer.

“Umm, I. Okay?” Senna stumbled over her words, the woman’s abruptness throwing her off balance. Senna barely had the mental capacity to do anything but obey, and soon, she was dressed in a simple linen outfit slightly too snug around her chest.

When she appeared again, the shopkeep gave her a studying look before nodding. “Better.” She stated bluntly. “Far from perfect, but better.” She then turned her gaze back to Senna’s eyes. “So, Deary. What can this old lady help you with?”

Senna could feel a small headache coming on. Was everyone in her recent life a little bit crazy?