The rest of the cruise went by without incident. Less than halfway through, Prelinsa found herself getting bored – she disliked the formal, political nature of the cruise, and had to keep a lookout on her shifts for danger. At least there were cool things to see along the coastline. Also, the food was extremely good, as expected of a luxury cruise for political guests. Not good enough to make up for the lack of everything else, though.
Rensa approached her on the morning of the last day, while she was off duty. This time, she was in her earfolk form – a woman in her prime with silky straight black hair and a fox ear on each side of her head. Sometimes, Prelinsa almost forgot that Rensa was ninety-one years old.
“Prelinsa,” the Grand Princess said, her black foxy tail not swishing at all. Her voice no longer sounded childlike, since she was bigger in this state. The mood around her was fairly serious.
“Rensa.” Prelinsa tried to keep things simple, since Rensa hated formalities.
“One of our guests told me there’s a bandit problem in the village of Sarcodes, to the north. It’s remote, so they only got the information just recently. There’s a hostage situation where the bandits have captured some villagers and want to exchange them for money. Unfortunately, I still need to attend more meetings, but based on what we know, I think you’ll do fine in my place. I want you to fly over to Sarcodes in advance, and scout things out a little. Do not immediately engage with the bandits or hostages. Are you with me so far?”
Prelinsa nodded, grimacing at the mention of hostages. The bandits probably weren’t treating them very well. “Mhm,” she said.
“Cool. Camilla will join you, along with Mirabelle, Arlan, and Rona. All friends of yours, so I trust you’ll work well as a team,” Rensa continued. “The other three are in the city of Primula right now, finishing up with an assignment there. Camilla will meet up with them, and they’ll take a helicopter and the Helium One drone to Sarcodes. Ideally, they arrive shortly after you do. Still following?”
“Yeah.”
“Great. So, I want the five of you to be an advance party that focuses on rescuing the hostages. Only deal with the bandits when you have to; the safety of the hostages comes first. We’ll have a force of soldiers follow things up after you’re done, and they’ll focus on the bandits. Am I clear on everything?”
Prelinsa nodded again. “Scout first. Then meet up with the other four. Then hostages, and only then bandits,” she summed up.
“Yeah.”
“Got it. I can do that.”
“Thanks. I knew I could count on you.” Rensa slapped Prelinsa’s shoulder. “I’ll send the location and information to your phone. Cellular and internet service don’t exist over there, so you’ll need to pay close attention to your map.”
“Don’t worry, you know I’m good at reading maps.”
----------------------------------------
True to her word, Prelinsa was able to find her way to Sarcodes easily. She landed a good distance away, and stealthily scouted the mountain fortress that the bandits and hostages were in. It was a dark building with an angular shape and imposing metal walls. Most of it was built deeply into the mountainside, so the full extent wasn’t visible.
From the ripples and fluctuations in the mana streams, Prelinsa could sense active mana burners within the fortress, which probably meant that all the machinery had power. She could also tell that the bandits had mages among them. Their exact numbers and fighting strength couldn’t be determined clearly from so far away, but Prelinsa had a decent enough idea. There was a natural spring nearby that provided water for both the fortress and Sarcodes, meaning that the bandits could potentially hold out for a very long time.
It was a challenging target. Were it not for the hostages, she could deal with the bandits alone. But she didn’t know for sure where the hostages were, and there was a risk that the bandits would kill them before she got to them. Trying to break into the fortress from any angle but the front risked a collapse, and also risked alerting the bandits – it wasn’t possible to go stealth while exerting magical force. If the surge of mana flow didn’t tip the bandits off, then the noise of breaking through rocks definitely would.
Once she was done scouting it out, she took off again and landed some distance away from the village, again to avoid alerting the bandits. The full swing of summer was here, but it was still on the cooler side due to the region’s latitude. Prelinsa didn’t feel it, though. The Phoenix Heart made her largely impervious to temperature variations.
“Dame Prelinsa of House Silvermoon!” An elderly man with a fuzzy beard knelt before Prelinsa as she entered Sarcodes.
“At ease, Mayor Freewinter. What are the details?” Prelinsa asked tersely.
The mayor stood. “The bandits! They want us to pay a large sum in exchange for the hostages. But even if we wanted to pay, we couldn’t afford it! If we pay that much, we’ll all starve. You need to help us!”
“That’s what I’m here for,” Prelinsa replied. “House Silvermoon and the Eastern Grand Principality haven’t forgotten about you. We’ve already worked out the issues of food and money, so you won’t starve. As we speak, there are people on the way with more food for the village.”
The mayor bowed gratefully. “Thank you, Dame Prelinsa!”
“I was sent with some others to deal with the fighting and rescue the hostages. Show me where the bandits are on a map. We’ll take care of things from there.”
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After confirming things with the mayor, and getting a map of the fortress, Prelinsa thanked him and exited the village to group up with the rest of her party. Rona Richland, Camilla Leclerc, Mirabelle Leclerc, and Arlan Whitemane all stood around a folding table, while the Helium One was parked on the ground. The helicopter that brought them was not here – it had probably landed far away to avoid attracting attention.
“Well? What did he say?” Camilla asked, putting her hands on her hips. She no longer wore her evening gown – instead, she wore the black military uniform of House Silvermoon. Prelinsa could feel that the floppy-eared lycan brunette was definitely somewhat impatient. She was still anxious and inexperienced after all. The others all had at least a few years of practical experience already – including Prelinsa, who was actually the youngest person here, being a month younger than Camilla.
“Cammy. Calm down and let Linsa talk,” her older sister Mirabelle said, patting her on the shoulder. With Mirabelle’s white hair and upright pointy ears, they didn’t look closely related. But they had similar amber eyes and similar scents. Most importantly, they really did share a close sisterly bond. As a result, Camilla relaxed quickly.
Meanwhile, Arlan was just waiting and listening for Prelinsa to speak, his burly arms crossed. The lion-ailuran’s tail swished, a bit impatiently as well. His skin was dark, but his hair was snow-white like Mirabelle’s, creating a sharp contrast. With his tall height and heavy muscles, he was an imposing figure that few people would dare cross.
Rona waited more calmly with her hands together. Her short, pale green hair – a color unique to elves – fluttered a bit in the breeze. Unlike the others, she wasn’t a direct member of the Silvermoon military – she was a priestess of the Pantheon of Karn, a religious body which had some ties to House Silvermoon. She was petite, and looked like she was in her mid-teens, which made her seem even more out of place.
Seeing that everyone was ready to listen, Prelinsa continued. “The bandits and hostages are holed up in an old fortress on the mountains. That one, over there,” she said while pointing. With most of the party members having enhanced senses, they could make it out easily enough despite the considerable distance. However, Rona needed to use binoculars to see it clearly.
“That looks annoying,” Camilla said.
“It’s worse than that. The layout of the fortress is like this,” Prelinsa said, unfurling the map and laying it onto the table. They all studied it intensely for several minutes, making comments and observations while cross-referencing with their existing intel. As they analyzed it together, they arrived at similar conclusions.
“…Okay, yeah. That is annoying,” Camilla finally said. The hostages were almost certainly being contained in one of the deepest parts of the fortress. They were likely behind several armored doors, and some of the bandits were known to be mages, meaning those doors could be reinforced further with defensive magic. There was no chance of a rescue with a head-on confrontation.
“Yeah. It’s super risky if we break in without a plan,” Mirabelle agreed. “We don’t know where the hostages are. We can’t even go all out – it’s too dangerous if the fortress collapses.”
“We’ll alert the bandits if we try to break in from the sides. They might kill the hostages before we even reach them,” Rona observed, matching Prelinsa’s assessment.
Arlan had remained silent the whole time, only nodding and shaking his head in response to the comments of others. But now, he finally spoke. “Let us send the drone first to do additional scouting,” he said. “Prelinsa has told us what she saw, and I consider her highly trustworthy. However, I wish to confirm some things just in case. There is always the possibility of missing something.”
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Some minutes later, the Helium One returned to them, its camouflage reverting back to its stock white color. As it was a flying machine that operated well clear of the mana streams, its presence was just that much harder to detect.
The advance party discussed what the findings of the drone were, but there wasn’t much to say. The drone didn’t find anything new – it only confirmed some of what Prelinsa had already determined. It couldn’t detect mana flow, so its observations were purely visual.
“Well, Arlan? What do you think?” Camilla asked.
“…Given what we know, I have two ideas,” Arlan said. “Neither is completely satisfactory, but I wish to hear your thoughts.”
“Go ahead,” said Prelinsa, listening closely.
“The first idea is that we pay the bandits as they wish, and capture them as they exit,” Arlan said simply. “Even Camilla is likely strong enough to deal with their estimated fighting forces alone. With Mirabelle and Prelinsa as even stronger combatants, and Rona and I acting as support, we have a fair amount of insurance in case something goes wrong.”
“I don’t like that idea,” Camilla said, immediately. “What if the bandits kill the hostages anyway?”
“I agree with Camilla,” Rona echoed. “We can’t trust the bandits, even if we give them what they want. We must put the safety of the hostages first. Once they’re all safe, the rest of the soldiers can deal with the bandits afterwards.”
Prelinsa nodded in agreement. “There could even be hidden escape routes in the fortress,” she opined. “If the bandits know about them, then they’ll kill the hostages and run away with the money.”
Mirabelle also nodded. “Yeah – I agree with all of them. This plan’s terrible, Arlan. I hope you’re just setting us up for your second idea.”
“I am indeed,” Arlan said, looking at Rona, Camilla, and Mirabelle. “I believe my second idea, while not flawless, is the best one we have available.”
“You- you don’t mean…” Camilla stammered.
“Oh, I have a bad feeling about this,” Mirabelle said, sighing as she put a hand to her face.
“We’ll have four of us – the two Leclerc sisters, Rona, and myself – all pretend to be hostages that we offer up to the bandits,” Arlan began. “With more hostages, the bandits will be able to demand an even larger payment from Sarcodes. Objectively, the four of us are also quite attractive and could fetch large sums of money in slave trafficking-”
Rona gave Arlan a glare that was uncharacteristic of her usual soft-spoken demeanor.
Mirabelle clicked her tongue. “Oi,” she said, nudging Arlan with her elbow.
Prelinsa crossed her arms, frowning at the mention of slave trafficking. She knew Arlan was just speaking his mind and didn’t mean anything by it, but it was still a rather uncomfortable subject for her, Rona, and Camilla. Prelinsa had been captured by slavers before, and her birth mother had been killed by them. She’d watched her mother get beaten to death by slavers, before she herself was put into a ship with horrible living conditions. Rona too had been captured, and they had ended up being cellmates. If it weren’t for Rona’s healing magic, Prelinsa might have died before being rescued by House Silvermoon.
“Arlan! You know how we all feel about slavery!” Camilla hissed, gritting her teeth and balling her hands into fists. She was livid. Big, floppy ears like hers didn’t just occur naturally – elves in the past had bred lycan slaves to look that way, before the First Civil War and the slave uprisings. Camilla and Mirabelle’s father was descended from said slaves, and Camilla had inherited his ears. Out of respect for their father, she had convinced herself not to get them surgically altered, but this was still a sore topic for her. Mirabelle was very protective of Camilla as a result, and slavery was something of a trigger word for her.
“I deeply apologize. That was extremely insensitive of me,” Arlan said, bowing his head in shame.
“Ugh, fine! I know you didn’t mean anything bad. So I accept your apology,” Camilla huffed.
“I accept as well,” Rona said.
“Yeah,” Prelinsa said. “So, what’s the rest of your idea?”
“As I was saying, everyone but Prelinsa will pretend to be hostages. There are two main kinds of bandits – those who are greedy scum, and those who are desperate. They will likely not refuse an opportunity to make more money,” Arlan continued. “However, we will still need to convince them that we are harmless, and incapable of posing a threat. We are all quite skilled in concealing our mana hearts, which enables this part of the plan to work. Even if the bandit mages are more powerful than we expect, they should still be unable to tell that Mirabelle and Camilla are both highly capable fighters. Are you all with me so far?”
The others nodded along, though Camilla still looked very sour.
“Good. Once we are in position, we will send a mana signal. On that signal, Prelinsa and the Helium One will break into the fortress and act as a distraction,” Arlan said. “They will attempt to lure as many bandits as possible towards the entrance, and clear out a path for us. Meanwhile, the rest of us will try to break the hostages free. With all four of us, this should be relatively straightforward. We will meet up with Prelinsa around here…” Arlan pointed to a central location on the map. “…and from there, we will head back to the entrance, escaping with all the hostages.”
“Okay, I think that’s a pretty good plan,” Prelinsa said, nodding a couple of times.
“I agree,” Rona said. “I can tend to any injured hostages this way. Let’s work out the details.”
“No! I hate this!” Camilla protested. “This is so stupid! We’re Leclercs, we’re better at fighting people head on! Being tied up like some helpless little girl is humiliating. And you all know how I feel about being treated like a slave! I won’t do it!”
“Calm down, Cammy,” Mirabelle said. “I hate it too, but I think Arlan’s right. This is the best idea we have so far. We need all four of us to help the hostages.”
“Why doesn’t Prelinsa do it, then? She’s pretty, too! And she’s stronger than any of us, even you!” This time, Camilla wasn’t calming down so easily from Mirabelle’s words.
“Prelinsa being stronger is exactly why she has to be the distraction,” Rona pointed out. “She’s too famous and distinctive to be mistaken for a hostage, and she’ll make a much bigger scene than any of us.”
“Yeah! Imagine how the bandits will react when they see the Scarlet Devil knocking on their door,” Mirabelle added. “They’re gonna freak out!”
“Ugh, but…” Camilla still wasn’t convinced.
“Camilla. I need your help with this. Please,” Prelinsa said, bending down a bit and looking her friend in the eyes. Camilla’s face turned red, and she looked away, hiding herself behind one of her hands. Once again, Prelinsa was taking advantage of Camilla’s crush on her.
“Okay! Fine! I just have to pretend to be some helpless little girl, right? That’s easy. I’ll show you what I can do!” Camilla said huffily, crossing her arms while still not looking at Prelinsa.
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She turned to Arlan.
“But what about you, Arlan? You’re not good at fighting. And you don’t have healing magic like Rona does.”
“Even so, my presence will be helpful,” Arlan stated. “I am quick-witted, so I can help with adjusting the plan if things go wrong. I can use the Sun’s Flare to create flashes of light and serve as a distraction, among other things. I trust you and Mirabelle with my life, as you are both highly skilled in combat. I also have faith in Rona’s healing magic should the worst happen to me. Lastly, being with the three of you is more realistic than being with Prelinsa. I would simply get in her way and slow her down.”
He looked knowingly at Prelinsa, then looked back at Camilla.
“Do you still object to my presence?”
“I… no, I don’t,” Camilla admitted.
“What about you, Mirabelle?”
Mirabelle shrugged. “Like I said. Having all four us is better for rescuing the hostages.”
“Good. Now, let us work out the specifics of the plan…”
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The hostage team borrowed some clothes from the village to change into – their military uniforms would stick out too much, after all. These clothes were warm, made of thick fibers that were fairly water-resistant to keep out the snow. It was hard to find a set that fit Arlan’s large frame, but eventually one was found. The hostage team also wouldn’t be able to bring any armor or weapons, so they would be going in with a minor handicap.
“Cammy, you went to the toilet, right? We might be stuck in there for a while,” Mirabelle reminded.
“Yeah, I did! I’m not a kid anymore, Mira,” Camilla said, pouting.
“Just checking, since you haven’t had much real experience. Also, you’ve always had a weak bladder,” Mirabelle pointed out, very indelicately.
“Mira!!” Camilla’s face turned bright red as she started hitting Mirabelle with her fists.
“Ow! Stop, stop! Okay, I deserve this!”
“Rona,” Arlan said. “I fear that the bandits may single you out as a target. You are smaller than the rest of us, and also our team’s healer. Try to stick with me when possible. Even if I am a poor fighter, my presence is intimidating enough to help dissuade attacks.”
“Thank you, Arlan,” Rona replied, smiling. “I appreciate the gesture.”
“Are you all ready?” A villager asked. He was one of the people who would pretend to deliver the hostage team to the bandits.
“Yep,” Mirabelle said.
“Then, let’s go.”
The villagers led the team up the steep slopes, with Prelinsa carrying H1 to preserve its power. Part of the way up, Prelinsa split up with the others, and found a rocky outcrop where she could hide from a distance, while still having a good view of the fortress. She set H1 down and watched from afar as Rona, Camilla, Mirabelle, and Arlan were led by the villagers to the fortress entrance, where three bandits stood guard. After some conversation, the hostage team was taken in by the bandits, and the villagers made their way back down the mountain.
Prelinsa sighed in relief. The hard part was already over – now she just had to wait for a while. She kept her presence hidden, using her stealth tactics. The fact that it was summer helped somewhat with this – it was harder to hide fire magic in colder weather. Prelinsa still wasn’t quite at Rupeth or Rensa’s level, where they could totally conceal themselves in subzero temperatures, despite being vastly stronger than Prelinsa. But to be fair, they had many decades more experience.
As she watched and waited patiently, Prelinsa’s big fox ears could make out the faint noises of armored doors opening and closing inside the fortress. Ordinarily, a single person couldn’t hope to do much in a situation like this. It was suicidal to act as a lone distraction. But she was Prelinsa Silvermoon, a Phoenix Warrior and Knight. Unless there were unexpectedly strong foes, this would be easy for her.
Prelinsa waited for nearly two hours. Eventually, she felt Camilla’s Firebird Heart surge – as an imitation created by observing Phoenix Warriors, the Path of the Firebird was easy for Prelinsa to detect. That was the cue. Prelinsa drew her katana, its blade becoming enveloped in flames. She rocketed towards the fortress entrance, summoning her phoenixfire wings, and took to the air. As soon as she did this, Helium One took off, following after her.
“Did you feel that?” A bandit standing guard said.
“Look! Over there!” Another shouted, pointing up at Prelinsa and the H1.
“Bandits of Fortress N129. You are under arrest by order of House Silvermoon. Please surrender the hostages in your possession immediately. Any resistance will be met with force,” H1 warned over its loudspeaker system.
“It’s the Scarlet Devil! And some weird robot!” A third yelled, ignoring the drone’s warning entirely. “Blast them!”
Blasting was of course a futile idea, but bandits weren’t always the sharpest individuals. They fired various bolts of magic upon Prelinsa and the drone. Prelinsa effortlessly swatted aside most of the attacks with her sword. Even the Helium One defended against the occasional shot. This was easy – the bandits weren’t even on the level of Silvermoon Knight Cadets.
The pokkit fired tiny yellow-hot bolts of phoenixfire from her sword towards them, which exploded with concussive force and effortlessly knocked them all out. This was followed up by a much bigger blast at the door, ripping a hole clean through the heavy steel. Prelinsa and the drone swooped down and flew inside, entering a staging area where vehicles and supplies might normally be stored. The interior was just as gloomy and metallic as the outside, but at it was least well lit.
There were also plenty of bandits about. They all stopped in their tracks and looked wide-eyed at the Scarlet Devil and the weird robot, like deer caught in the headlights of a vehicle.
“Hey! Bandits!” Prelinsa roared as loudly as she could, her voice echoing throughout the fortress. “Prelinsa Silvermoon, the Scarlet Devil, has arrived to fight you! Come at me! I’m going to bring you all to justice!”
She then put her sword in her mouth to grip it there, and in only a split second, upshifted to a giant fox, over three meters in body length, which thudded to the ground on all fours. Most shifters took several seconds to shift, but for Prelinsa, the action was nearly instant. It also wasn’t necessary, and actually made fighting more complicated, because it didn’t give her any significant speed or strength advantages. The Path of the Phoenix was strong enough that it made such gains irrelevant.
Therefore, the full upshift was just a bigger target, and Prelinsa mostly used it for transport roles instead of combat. But it certainly attracted more attention, and that was her goal here.
The bandits flew into a panic. Most of them tried to run, but a few stayed to try their luck in fighting. Both approaches were completely useless. Prelinsa swung her head a few times, and with some more bolts of phoenixfire, everyone in sight went down just as easily as the guards outside. Meanwhile, H1 continued to repeat its ominous warning as it stuck close to Prelinsa. For good measure, Prelinsa also fired lots of unnecessary blasts that created loud booming noises, aiming to make the distraction even more effective.
The advance party wasn’t out to kill anyone if possible – Prelinsa avoided lethal attacks while delivering enough impact to knock the bandits unconscious. She wanted them to get help if they could. People could change as long as they weren’t too far gone – she’d learned that from her mothers and teachers.
Having heard the commotion, a larger and stronger looking bandit approached, clad in heavy armor. She sneered at the sight of Prelinsa, before upshifting herself into a big wolf form – quite a bit larger and bulkier than Prelinsa.
“What’s this? I thought the Scarlet Devil would be some bigshot, but you’re just some brat. Good luck putting out water with fire!”
She raised a paw and cast three bolts of water. Prelinsa casually deflected them with her katana, but the bandit used this to charge forth at Prelinsa. Spiked gauntlets on her paws became fully enveloped in sharp jets of water – she was using one of countless generic paths of water magic.
To Prelinsa, this headlong rush looked like it was in slow motion. She sprinted forth, then suddenly downshifted and slid easily between the bandit’s front limbs.
“Huh?!”
Prelinsa’s blade glowed brightly, emitting a big blast that launched the bandit straight up into the ceiling with heavy force, creating a loud crashing sound of metal on metal. With all her momentum arrested, the bandit thudded back to earth in an awkward heap.
“ARGH!! You-”
A bolt of electricity suddenly came from H1. The bandit twitched and made some odd noises, before falling unconscious.
Meanwhile, Prelinsa slid to a halt and leaped to her feet, pulling the sword from her mouth and taking to the air again.
“Good job, H1,” she said.
“Your feedback is appreciated,” the drone replied.
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Making her way through the fortress and knocking out more bandits along the way, Prelinsa and H1 passed through an open armored door and into a very large enclosed room that looked like it was once used for combat training. The door closed behind them, locking them in with several bandits. Prelinsa looked around – the space was well lit and had off-yellow surfaces, with a high ceiling.
Suddenly, she put out her flames and landed as she smelled something in the air – flour. A lot of flour was raining into the room from vents in the ceiling, coating everyone and everything in white powder. If she used her phoenixfire here to attack, it would ignite the flour, creating a dust explosion that annihilated everyone in the room. Someone like Elder Kirith could manage, but Prelinsa wasn’t yet skilled enough to avoid such a thing. In response to the detection of this environmental hazard, H1 also landed on the ground next to Prelinsa.
“Hahaha! I knew you’d fall for it!” A voice called over a loudspeaker system. Prelinsa looked up and saw a bandit, watching from behind large glass windows in an observation room near the ceiling. He also stood behind some kind of control panel. “You can’t use your phoenixfire here! You’ll just blow yourself up!” He jeered.
Without missing a beat, Prelinsa downshifted back to her earfolk form and raced towards each of the bandits, knocking them all out with light chops to the neck and other pressure points. She moved so quickly that none of them had any chance to react. They all toppled to the floor, one after another.
“Who says I need phoenixfire?” She called back. Even so, she was thinking about how she would deal with this and escape without fire. The Phoenix Heart massively boosted her speed and strength, so she could still leap high enough to the observation room and try to smash the glass.
But suddenly, she saw a shit-eating grin on the bandit’s face as he pressed a button on the panel. Then she heard a crackle, and braced herself. Something had ignited the flour. The entire room instantly filled with massive flames and a tremendous booming noise, which shook the whole fortress. Smoke obscured everything.
The bandit celebrated, pumping both of his fists. “Yes! I did it! I killed the Scarlet Devil- huh?!”
Prelinsa flew out from the smoke towards the observation room, trailing sparks and flames as she smashed the glass with her katana. With a fire-propelled kick, she flew in and knocked the bandit to the floor, holding him at swordpoint. She was followed shortly afterwards by H1, which had survived completely intact. The drone flew through the hole and hovered over the bandit.
“No! How did you survive that?!” The bandit exclaimed.
Prelinsa used a free hand to wipe some soot off her shoulder.
“There’s no way I’ll die from an explosion like that. It’s fire. I like fire,” she commented. “I didn’t use it because I wanted to keep your buddies alive. But then you tried to blow everyone up for no reason. Thanks, I guess.”
She thumbed over to the settling dark cloud, bending down to look him closer in the face.
“By the way, I saved all their tails. Thank me later,” she added.
“Wait-”
“H1, give it to him.”
H1 zapped the bandit with a weak but precise jolt of lightning. The bandit convulsed, then fell unconscious. Prelinsa sighed, shaking her head, before continuing to make her way towards the agreed meeting point. She could feel the mana signatures from her teammates.
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After knocking out many more bandits, Prelinsa reached the meeting point with H1, but her teammates and the hostages weren’t there. She could feel their mana hearts from behind an armored door that was in the way. Prelinsa landed and pointed her sword, preparing to fire upon the door, but then heard Camilla’s voice.
“Prelinsa, wait! We’ve got this!”
Prelinsa held back, sheathing her sword and watching to see what they would do.
“Arlan! Laser!” Mirabelle called out, doing something with her water magic, the Ocean’s Blessing. Although she couldn’t see it with her eyes, Prelinsa could feel from the flow of mana that Mirabelle had made some kind of lens-shape.
There was a roar from Arlan as he cast the Sun’s Flare through Mirabelle’s water lens, and a bright, white-hot spot appeared on the door, which trailed smoke. Mirabelle adjusted the shape of her lens to move the beam around slowly, tracing out a molten circle. Once it was done, several people on the other side tackled the circle, and it fell out of the door with a loud thud.
Prelinsa could see that Mirabelle had shifted to her dire wolf form, and Arlan was in his white lion form. Neither of them was wearing their usual armor, so they looked somewhat less fierce than usual. Prelinsa also noticed a patch of missing fur on Mirabelle’s front right limb, where her skin looked weirdly discolored. It didn’t seem to be bothering the lycan, so she ignored it for now, but it definitely looked like a wound that Rona had healed up.
Rona herself was riding atop of Arlan, and both of the shifters carried some of the hostages on their backs, along with a couple of bandits who were tied up. Other hostages were traveling on foot. Camilla meanwhile hadn’t shifted – Prelinsa knew that Camilla’s wolf form was not suitable for combat.
The party emerged through the hole. Camilla waved at Prelinsa, and Prelinsa waved back.
“Is that the Scarlet Devil?!” One of the hostages exclaimed in excitement, pointing at Prelinsa. She was a young pokkit girl, about 8 years old, riding on top of Mirabelle.
“Yep!” Camilla said, very proud to be Prelinsa’s friend.
“You made it!” Prelinsa exclaimed, her tail swishing slowly in excitement.
Camilla’s tail wagged more quickly, as she gave Prelinsa a high five with her right hand. Her left hand carried a saber that she’d stolen from one of the bandits. “We did! And we got all the hostages, too. We made the bandits show us where they all were. Was that explosion you, by the way?”
Prelinsa shook her head.
“That’s what I thought. I didn’t feel any mana,” Camilla remarked.
“One of the bandits tried to blow me up with a dust explosion,” Prelinsa explained. “The only people in danger were his buddies. I saved them.”
Rona frowned when she heard that. Like Prelinsa, she despised unnecessary deaths.
Camilla grimaced, balling her hands into fists. “Horrible! How can you try and kill your own allies like that? So stupid. Did you know that-”
“Talk later. Let’s move quickly,” Arlan urged, his voice deeper in this form. Prelinsa could feel that firing the laser had taken a lot out of him. He’d probably done it to show that his group was competent, and to preserve Mirabelle’s fighting presence. But now, he himself wouldn’t be able to help much anymore. Which was just as well, since Mirabelle was a far superior combatant.
“Right, sorry,” Camilla said.
Prelinsa summoned her fiery wings and took to the air again.
“I’ll lead the way. Follow me,” she said, drawing her katana and igniting it, then flying off.
“Wow! She really can fly without mana crystals!” The young pokkit girl said admiringly.
----------------------------------------
Prelinsa led the others along the same route from the one she used to break in, as the bandits by now were mostly going to avoid anywhere that Prelinsa had been. There were some stragglers, but they were all easily dispatched. If Prelinsa didn’t get them due to bad positioning, then Camilla or H1 did – they were trailing the group to defend the rear. Things were going very, very smoothly.
She stopped in a corridor for a bit to let the rest of the group to catch up.
“Mira, that wound on your leg… was it poisoned?” Prelinsa asked, now that they were closer to safety.
“Oh. Yeah, of course you noticed,” Mirabelle said. She seemed a bit sheepish. “It’s fine, it’s fine! You know how the Ocean’s Blessing is good about poison stuff, right? And Rona fixed up the rest of it. It feels a little weird, but I’m right as rain!”
“Just be careful, and get it checked out when we’re done.”
“Ugh, you sound like Arlan and Cammy when you say that.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Camilla quipped.
“As will I,” Arlan added.
As they neared the entrance and the hole that Prelinsa had created in the doors, they saw a big lycan in wolf form standing in their way, who growled at the sight of them. Not as large and magnificent as Mirabelle, but certainly not to be trifled with. She was missing her front right leg, and looked much worse for wear in other ways too, with ragged fur and many scars.
But Prelinsa could recognize her scent even after all these years. It was Gladys – a woman whom Prelinsa had known from the slums of the former North Realm, and greatly disliked for bullying her and Marianne.
Prelinsa could also sense that Gladys bore a new mana heart, with the power of water in it. It was a Leviathan Core – the hallmark of the Way of the Leviathan. At its current level, it wasn’t strong enough to stop the group – or even just Mirabelle on her own – but Prelinsa wondered how Gladys had obtained it. It was House Goldensun’s signature magic, and there was certainly nothing about this in the intel she had gotten.
Gladys had also done a remarkably good job of concealing it, seeing that Prelinsa – and everyone else – had failed to sense it earlier. The spring of water nearby likely helped by dancing with the mana streams.
“Everyone. Off my back,” Mirabelle urged, prompting the hostages to disembark. Then Mirabelle and Camilla prepared to fight, Camilla igniting her saber with fire, and Mirabelle charging up her mana.
“Wait. This is my problem,” Prelinsa said, gesturing that they should all hold back. She sheathed her katana as a sign that she was willing to talk things out. Mirabelle and Camilla didn’t relax, but they did back off and stop their aggressive displays.
“Prelinsa,” Gladys snarled. “It’s as they said. You look just like Marianne now. You’re even flying, like the ghost of Marianne. How ridiculous.”
Prelinsa tensed up slightly – her first instinct was to punch Gladys. She still missed Marianne deeply, but she didn’t let her feelings or Gladys’ verbal jabs get the better of her. She remembered Elder Kirith’s teachings of understanding and using her feelings, rather than giving in to them.
Instead of attacking, she directed her emotions towards the aggressive manner of speech needed to deal with Gladys – emulating how Missus B. used to deal with her back in the slums. As she did so, she also felt genuine pity for her old antagonist.
“Well, you look terrible, Gladys,” Prelinsa commented as she landed on the ground, putting out the flames on her back. “And you’re with the bandits, really? Vincent would be sad if he knew you were living like this.”
“Shut up! You fucking bitch-fox!” Gladys screamed. “I was going to become the most powerful person in the Commune! But you Silvermoons took that away from me! You destroyed the Commune!”
The Commune was the name of the makeshift village that the slum dwellers lived in, amid a district of abandoned buildings on the outskirts of Kalmia, in the North Realm. It was a terrible, run-down place that lacked in everything, and was only good in the sense that it wasn’t the first target for criminals. To hear Gladys speak positively of the Commune was deeply unpleasant to Prelinsa, who remembered everything bad about it.
“Yeah. We made it into a place where people can get everything they need to live!” Prelinsa retorted. “Food, water, and shelter! Even healthcare and education, all without having to struggle desperately for their lives! But you’re upset that people have a better way of living now, because you can no longer abuse them with your power. You’re pathetic!”
“If I’m pathetic, what does that make you?!” Gladys shouted. “You hated the Silvermoons, but you became their lackey! Now you’re going around doing errands for them. You even have a Phoenix Heart, like a Silvermoon! Are you happy with how you’re living now? Being in a position of such power and privilege?”
“Yes!” Prelinsa replied. “I saw that the Silvermoons are trying to do the right thing, even though they made a lot of mistakes. So I changed, and became a better person to try and help them. You can change, too. There’s still hope for you, and people who still care about you. Leave your anger behind. Leave the bandits and come back with us. Use your power to help those in need, rather than hurt them. Vincent would really like that. He misses you!”
Gladys scoffed. “Bah! That boy stopped listening to me after he got corrupted by you Silvermoons. He went all soft, whining about how I should be more compassionate and emotional. He’s no longer my son!”
A series of expressions crossed Prelinsa’s face, as she stopped for the right words. Hearing something like that from a parent truly saddened her.
“No,” she finally said, shaking her head. “Vincent will always be your son. Both now and forever. Now surrender, and I won’t have to hurt you. Please. You know you can’t stop me.”
“Bullshit! You’re just like Marianne, going on about helping people and doing the right thing!” Gladys was only becoming more furious. “But look where that got her – she died trying to save your sorry ass! I refuse to be a pathetic bleeding-heart like that! I want power and money! Everything I see should be mine! You’re getting in my way, so I’m going to kill you all!”
Suddenly, Prelinsa felt a huge surge of mana coming from Gladys, far beyond what her Leviathan Core should be capable of. This wasn’t something she’d ever seen before, but it was something she learned from her magic lessons.
“Get back!” Prelinsa urged the others. “It’s mana fury!”
Mirabelle didn’t have to be told twice, setting up a barrier of water to guard the rest of the party.
Gladys screamed in both pain and rage, as vicious jets of water enveloped her whole body, cutting her skin and dying the water pink. In this state, she could generate attacks at least an order of magnitude higher than what she normally could. She lunged at Prelinsa at high speed, leaping into the air.
Knowing that everyone else was behind her, Prelinsa decided not to dodge.
“RAAARRGH!”
She let out a war cry, going head on and tackling Gladys in the chest. With the heat of her phoenixfire rocketing her forward, the water simply evaporated before it was able to harm her, creating a huge burst of steam.
The force of Prelinsa’s forward charge was so powerful that even though she was outweighed considerably, she sent Gladys flying backward like a ragdoll. The three-legged lycan crashed to the ground and slid to a halt, trailing water and blood. But she quickly stood again, growling furiously at Prelinsa.
Once someone entered mana fury, it was nearly impossible to come back on their own. As Gladys absorbed more and more mana, she was overwhelmed with the forces of nature – it was like a normal person trying to swallow an entire tsunami all at once. Water was actually beginning to cut through Gladys from the inside out. Soon, there would be so much strain on her Core that she would explode into a colossal burst of mana and water, destroying everything in her surroundings.
With Prelinsa’s current skill level, there was nothing she could do to end the fury state safely for Gladys. Even if all the mages present worked together, it would be a tall order on such short notice. But if the mana fury simply continued, the explosion could become so large that it would level part of the fortress. Nobody here could defend against that entirely – there were simply too many people to protect all at once.
There was only one solution left: Put Gladys out of her misery.
“Sorry,” Prelinsa whispered. As Gladys jumped at her again, the pokkit flew low, drawing her katana and slashing the old wolf in the chest, cutting through both her heart and her Core. The chaotic mana flow abruptly stopped, and Gladys thudded to the floor in a pool of blood and water, not moving. The smells of iron and death crept into the air.
All was quiet, except for the hum of H1’s rotors and the crackling of Prelinsa’s sword. The hostages just watched in stunned silence. After all, they had just witnessed someone get killed before their very eyes.
Prelinsa landed, burned the blood and water off of her sword, and sheathed it. She turned, and bowed respectfully to Gladys, closing her eyes.
“That was the same Gladys you told me about, wasn’t it?” Rona asked quietly, as Mirabelle lowered her barrier of water. The elvish priestess hopped off of Arlan’s back, and approached Prelinsa.
“Yeah,” Prelinsa replied, opening her eyes again.
“I’m sorry.” Rona looked deeply apologetic.
“She was going to blow herself up to kill us all. I don’t think there was any hope left for her.”
“I think there is hope for everyone,” Rona said. “But she was very far gone, and we weren’t a good enough hope for her. You did what you had to.”
She approached the body of Gladys, giving a prayer to the gods.
“…Vincent will be sad. I know there was nothing we could do once Gladys entered mana fury, but I still hate that she had to die.”
Prelinsa wouldn’t say that she was close with Vincent, but she knew he’d been trying to become a better person over the past six years. Even though he used to be a troubled and volatile teenager who bullied her, they had slowly gained a mutual respect for one another. He and Prelinsa were at least on speaking terms now. Prelinsa knew he would mourn for some time, even though Gladys was such an awful person to the very end.
“Yeah, I hate it, too. If only I were strong enough to stop the mana fury,” she said bitterly.
“It’s not your fault, Prelinsa! Nobody knew there would be someone that strong and crazy,” Camilla protested. “Besides, who expects bandits to have the Way of the Leviathan? That’s what’s crazier about this! How did she even get that?”
“Yeah, you didn’t have any choice. It sucks, but I would’ve done the same thing,” Mirabelle added, her ears drooping. She looked even less comfortable with it than Camilla.
“Thanks, guys,” Prelinsa said as she collected her thoughts. “Let’s get out of here. We’ve rescued the hostages, and the soldiers will be here soon to clean up for us. Arlan, bring the body with you. I want to at least give Gladys a proper send-off. I’m going to ask for your help, Rona.”
“I’ll do everything I can,” Rona replied.