"I snagged a quest on the way out, by the way. Not that I'm asking for help in particular, but it's a charming mountain with a charming history. The report's somewhat due anyway, so I figured I might as well since we're swinging by the place for skydiving anyway. You'll probably really like this quaint little place."
Giggling smugly, Ellania swept her way through the sky, her wings flapping harder to support the weight of two people. She was thinking of going by land at first, until the Qliphat realized that her travelling companion probably would not relish being lost in the wild for over a week. So she went with the flying option from the start, carrying Felicia as well.
"Ah, I think you'll be able to see it from this distance---that mountain that goes up and up, even past the clouds? That's where we're headed to."
Felicia slowly began re-thinking her life decisions at this point, as the lady with a pair of fallen angel wings glided peacefully in the sky with her in her arms.
How... did things get to this point? Someone, please tell me...
She thought exasperatedly, as the great Beastman Mountain gradually appeared over the horizon.
Of all places to skydive from...
Reluctantly accepting her fate, she used the strangeness of the whole situation to calm her mind. Afterall, the longer she was distracted, the less she'd have to think about what she'd done.
Gazing over the tall plains and the wild savannah they swiftly passed through, she must admit it was quite breath-taking seeing everything from an aerial view. Wild beasts eyed their flying figure warily, whilst the silver-haired maiden holding onto her swerved around the few trees dotting the savannah.
"...What's your name?" She called out suddenly, barely preventing a fly from entering her mouth as she spoke.
"Hmm?"
Ellania swerved midair to avoid running right into a rather tall tree, then swooped to pass under a low-hanging branch over a small lake, laughing as she did. She then regained their former altitude, her wings lifting them back higher.
"Oh! I haven't actually given you my name, have I? Sorry, that's completely my bad. I'm Ellania, but feel free to shorten my name if it'll make it easier to remember, haha~"
As the pair suddenly swooped and swerved over their surroundings, her feet being roughly grazed by prickly leaves, Felicia sighed once again.
Why did I entrust my life to this daredevil... Will I even make it back alive? Well, even if I don't, I suppose that could be one way for me to pay for my sins...
She thought gloomily, before listening to Ellania's reply. "No worries Nia, I never told you my name either... I'm Felicia. It's... nice to meet you." She responded calmly, devoid of the usual polite friendliness she always had.
"What, so I'm a cat nyaow? Very well, I'll allow it nya~ And listen to that sheer amount of enthusiasm in your voice, it simply gives people listening the chills, nyahaha~"
Giggling as she teased her passenger, Ellania rolled over midair such that she was flying on her back, and Felicia was now above her.
"Nya, nya, nya~ Still moody about our talk earlier? Nyavermind, I'll see what I can do to pull you out of it nya. Assuming we don't have an accident while nyadiving, but again, accidents nyare a part of life, nyesu! I think we'll be great friends, Cia~"
Bewildered by her sudden kitten-like nature, giving her minor flashbacks to the murder of Lila, she only just realized what her nickname sounded like. The faint ghost of a smile graced her face, before quickly disappearing like the wind.
"...It suits you." She commented simply, her mood slightly uplifted.
Suddenly, just as she was thinking good things about her flight partner, they suddenly did a position swap, with Nia flapping her wings beneath her.
"What. Are. You. Doing!" She yelled, before realizing she was somehow still safe flying in the air.
Breathing a sigh of relief, she continued warning after a pause. "At the very least, keep looking straight forward!"
Great friends huh?... Felicia thought to herself solemnly, remaining silent despite the other's clear enthusiasm.
"Nyathing like some fancy tricks mid-flight to secure the bonds of friendship, nya~ Of course, if I mess up accidentally then we'll probably fall to our nyeaths, but nyet just makes it all the more nyxciting, nyo?"
Nodding wisely as if she'd just said something profound, Ellania righted her flying posture once more. Now she was sitting in a cross-legged position like how one might lounge about on an imaginary chair, and Felicia was left sitting upright on her lap as well.
Although Felicia had many questions about her choice of explanation, she definitely had to disagree with the 'securing bonds' side of things, because if anything, the thing she felt the least right about now was security!
Not even surprised at this point, Felicia just passively watched as Nia swapped positions once again, this time into a strange sitting position with her in her lap. Although a little uncomfortable, she was more preoccupied with how comical her new companion appeared as she soared through the air in her awkward position.
"It's true. One needs adversity to grow, but too much of it will break anybody! A mistake is only a lesson when you learn something valuable from it, otherwise, it's nothing but excess burden. And when you finally reached your destination, that's when you should look back and think deeply into it, not before. The strongest of shields will not protect a person from themselves. But that's enough depressing stuff---time for a tongue twister! Repeat after me!"
Despite her intent, it didn't go as smoothly as expected.
"Nyanyame nyanyajyuunyanya-do no nyarabi de nyakunyaku inyanyaku nyanyahan nyanyadai nyannyaku nyarabete nyaganyagame~?” (Can you imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie?)
Mildly amused, Felicia was then suddenly startled as Ellania descended into a great philosophical talk, most likely in an attempt to comfort her. Watching her swap between moods so suddenly was fun to watch, even when she excitedly introduced a random tongue-twister from out of nowhere.
Deciding to play along for a bit, she briefly attempted playing her little game.
"Nyan nyan nyanyan jooyanya-do no nyanya de nyanyunyaku inyanku nyanyan nyanyaday nyannaku nyalabenya ganyagame~?"
She nya'd as well as she could, mimicking Ellania's changing tone and syllables with an odd seriousness. Her voice was naturally a bit more mellow and deep than Nia's, hence it sounded a little strange coming from her.
Not wanting to be teased by this crazy daredevil, she quickly asked a sudden question.
"A-Anyway, look, the mountain's right there, we should be passing through that watery veil soon right?"
"Ah, you're right. We'll be going up a little bit more, where the air is much thinner, so be sure to take deep breaths until we reach the city!"
Saying thus she started ascending, slowly building up for that last push into the city above the clouds. In order to do that, Ellania reverted to proper flying position once more whilst keeping a firm hand onto Felicia.
It would be fun to accidentally let my hand slip and then catch her before the bottom --- naw, let's not. I'll never hear the end of it.
Thus, with that wicked thought kept solely to herself, Ellania went back to the task at hand, which was to safely carry Felicia to the destination...and frowned whilst taking her own advice. There was a weird smell in the air.
"Say, Cia..."
Her voice took on a more serious note.
"...Is it just me, or do you smell ashes as well?"
Nodding at her words, she braced herself for the ascension, feeling a frigid sense of weightlessness as they rose. The cold air tickled her skin as she was hoisted into Nia's arms again. She was slightly surprised by Ellania's sudden no-nonsense attitude, before hearing her next few words.
Immediately, her face dissolved into a serious frown as she sniffed the air. The tell-tale murky stench of ash and fire assaulted her nose from afar. "Yeah...quick, let's go investigate." She patted the arms holding her, signalling her to raise her speed.
"Hold on tight. Don't bite your tongue."
Diving downwards, Ellania allowed herself to build up some momentum before her single pair of wings beat once more, pulling the two into a straight glide as they got nearer and nearer to the mountain. The Qliphat, looking around urgently, spotted the column of smoke rising into the air, and her frown got deeper. She pricked her ears up, straining to hear any possible sounds.
Nothing registered yet, but another few hundred metres later, the first sounds carried by the wind made itself known. The ringing of metal on metal, shouting, and as they drew even closer, the crackling of flames. Ellania tensed.
"It's the Oni. Sorry, Cia, but it looks like our skydiving plans will have to wait a little."
*****
Nodding wordlessly, Felicia held onto Nia firmly as they dove rapidly towards the Beastman Mountain. After surveying the area cautiously, the familiar sound of battle and raging fire rung in both their ears simultaneously.
"No problem. It's those monsters you wrote about in your reports right? Aim for the head? Watch out for their speed despite their bulkiness? Some can turn invisible?" She inquired as each memory popped up, as the sight of blue skin was briefly revealed amidst the bubbling smoke of burning buildings.
"Let's go." She responded solemnly, silently not mentioning the fact that it was reported that the Oni fed on negative emotions.
Hah... Just try and kill me.
She thought to herself with an eerie confidence, oblivious to the madness that had arisen in her heart since that day.
"Hmm? My reports? I don't recall ever writing any of those in them...well, nevermind. But that invisibility thing is new. Bah! We'll deal with the problems as they arise! Ikuyo!"
Going in for a quick landing, Ellania simply exited flight mode over an oni, knocking the blue-skinned monster into the ground whilst ensuring that her passenger was not hurt by that stunt. She got into combat stance, pulling out two purple sword constructs and holding one in each hand as she did a quick glance of the surroundings.
"Hmm? Oh, sorry, I don't know why I suddenly thought you were an old friend of mine... must be my sentimental emotions getting the better of me." Felicia chuckled dryly, co-operating with her driver's landing procedure by kicking the oni in the back of its head as it fell to the ground.
After a short roll on the floor to alleviate her momentum, she immediately drew her enchanted blade, her prized weapon which she hadn't used in over a year, and sliced the fallen beast's head. Unfortunately, perhaps due to a mix of underestimating the monster's toughness, and her lack of combat experience as of late, she failed to cleanly slice it's head off.
"What a mess. This place is too far away from the river, but any time now---"
Ellania was interrupted by the sound of a horn, a loud blast that echoed through the forest. No doubt everyone in the mountain's range heard it.
"...Ten minutes. We just have to hold them back for ten minutes and reinforcements will be here. I'd like to look for survivors, but I don't think there's any around."
The Qliphat growled.
"Or we could kill most of them and send the rest packing."
"Tch." Felicia grumbled to herself as she listened to Nia's explanation of the warning horn, which she had blocked out earlier to concentrate on her strike.
Leaping to the side, as the oni lunged towards her, this time she let her mana flow into her sword before slicing its neck into two cleanly, her blade glowing a familiar icy blue before it dispersed with the wind. Swinging her sword to be rid of the monster's blood, she looked towards her companion with a strange twinkle in her usually dead eyes.
"How about both?" She vaguely smiled, as a lust for battle and bloodshed shook her body, despite a part of her still managing to convince her to search for survivors.
It took Ellania no time at all to come to a conclusion.
"Both it is. In the wake of the attacks, the number one priority when getting raided is to sound the horn and alert the city of an attack. If there are any survivors, they'd be making their way over to where that horn originated. We'll stand a better chance getting more out alive if we rendezvous with them there."
As she talked the constructs in her hand grew more detailed, and took on more solid hues as opposed to their initial translucent forms. Then the girl kicked out at what appeared to be thin air --- there was a pained grunt as the blue humanoid monster revealed itself, and she followed up with a stab right in the face. The blade cracked as it sank in deep, but Ellania shoved the oni backwards and clenched her empty hand.
The oni went down with a loud pop and stopped moving. A replacement blade was already taking form as Ellania started briskly walking forward.
"Let's go! I think the horn originated somewhere from this side!"
"I see, we should hurry over then!" Felicia responded excitedly, immediately turning towards the horn's source after silently thanking her companion for the explanation and logical deduction of events.
"Ah, your signature move I see." She commented as she watched her deal with the invisible threat whilst dealing with one of her own, before marching forth warily yet hastily with Nia.
"It's at times like these where I wish I had the power to control water freely, would make these invisible Oni a lot less difficult to deal with whilst also not costing me much in terms of mana." She grumbled, before summoning an icy mist with a ring of fire to circle around each of them, making it easier to spot the invisible Oni from afar.
"Ah, right, water and mist leaves traces when something touches them...you might be onto something there. Good thinking, Cia. You might have just reduced the number of casualties in further attacks."
Felicia blinked a few times at her companion's sudden praise. "Well, I just kinda came up with it on the spot to be honest, glad to hear it'd help though." She replied casually, her attention not really focused on the conversation.
Fortunately, most of the ones Felicia had to deal with were all brawn and no brains, not even trying to go invisible as she blasted their heads off with fire. After being slightly separated from Elianna due to fighting separate enemies, Felicia faintly heard the sound of a child crying from a tall burning building close by, which was unfortunately also surrounded by a group of Oni.
Kicking the feet out from an attacking Oni before jumping on it's shoulders and using her legs to wrestle it into the floor, Ellania caught a firm hold of the monster's head and gave it a sharp jerk to the side. With a snap it was rendered immobile, and she wasted no time taking off it's head. Another one down.
She rejoined Felicia and stared at the same building, noting the number of Oni.
"Hey, do you think you can distract those guys for me for a bit? For at least a minute, maybe five." She inquired, studying the tower-like building with a frown.
"Consider it done. I'll buy you six minutes and twenty-seven seconds. Go."
There was a large translucent orb in her hand which was growing ever larger, and when it reached the size she wanted Ellania flung it towards the area where more of them were, following closely behind it herself.
"That's more than enough time, alright, see you in a bit." She said farewell briefly as she dove straight into the burning building through a broken window, tearing a piece from her dress to cover her nose and mouth. She coated herself in a thin layer of ice just in case, even though she had a high resistance to temperature changes due to her contradictory powers.
It was difficult to navigate through the ruined building, as flames and smog covered her vision like an impenetrable haze. Climbing over and through some ruined furniture and walls, she finally reached the dilapidated staircase, which was half-torn off at the bottom, leaving a gaping hole straight to the house's basement. Unfortunately, what she wanted was to go up, not down.
Extinguishing the flames on a nearby sofa chair, she hauled it over and froze the air above it, giving her just enough height to haul herself atop the broken staircase's upper half. Just avoiding a falling piece of burning debris from the sky, she hurried over towards the weakening cries coming from a small room at the end of the hallway.
A little girl with black bunny ears and teary green eyes was stuck beneath a small pile of debris, the main source of which being the door that had collapsed on her. Still crying weakly, Felicia quickly rescued the girl from her burning prison and cooled her wounds with ice as she searched for an exit. Finding herself surrounded by burning debris that had fallen whilst she was freeing the little bunny, with the fire spreading closer to where she stood, she found herself with no choice but to jump out a broken wall onto the streets below.
Well, a few broken bones couldn't hurt right?
Okay, who was she kidding. Taking in a deep breath she yelled:
"NIAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"
On her end, Ellania had picked a fight with six Oni. But she wasn't nearly stupid enough to fight all of them at once, which was why she'd done what she did --- as the massive purple ball rolled towards a cluster of three Oni, the closest one lifted a club to whack it. She didn't wait for it to do that.
*
Boom*
At her signal the massive ball fragmented to hundreds of pieces, blasting out in a form of rudimentary shrapnel, not that she expected it to work like that. Perhaps the ones closest to it would get some cuts, but that was not why she went to the trouble of making it.
"Got you!"
No, her purpose was to use the explosion of shards as a smokescreen, and her blade shattered after sweeping true, striking off a head from the neck stump before vanishing. The first oni fell to the floor dead even before the smoke was allowed to clear, and the Qliphat rushed to engage the other two.
When the smoke settled, restoring vision to normal, three headless bodies lay across the floor. Ellania clutched the arm which she'd taken a glancing blow briefly with in order to kill the second, and wasted no time lunging for the isolated fourth.
It charged and pinned her by her weapon against the wall, so Ellania kicked it right in the crown jewels. As the monster shrieked in pain she slugged it into the floor, and hacked it's head off, laughing while short of breath.
"Two more!"
She pulled out her rapier, and charged to meet them.
*****
The last two oni toppled over just as she sheathed her rapier, and before she could pause to catch her breath, Ellania heard her name being shouting, and spotted the pair jumping out of the building from a higher level.
"Coming!"
Launching from a step right into a glide, the Qliphat did her best to catch them in time, and when that proved impossible she quickly positioned herself so that she would be able to cushion the two with her own body.
Unfortunately, that calculation of hers came true.
"Nyaow!"
Even though Felicia wasn't anticipating an actual rescue despite her instinctive yell for help, an actual rescue did indeed come, pitifully squished beneath her on the messy ground. Although surprised, she quickly lifted herself off her companion alongside the little bunny girl and helped Nia up.
"I didn't think you'd actually come! But thank you, that save was awesome." She praised, truly grateful for the fact that although they didn't know each other that well, Nia was willing to hurt herself to save them.
"Haha, you're a nice person at heart aren't you?" She teased playfully, before checking on the little girl staring at them dazedly within Felicia's arms. She was looking at the both of them as if they were shiny stars, worrying Felicia slightly if she had problems with her vision, before she was suddenly glomped by her tiny arms.
"Wahhh *hic* T-thank you...*hic* b-both of you..." She choked out tearfully as the weight of the ordeal that had just passed overcame her.
Comfortingly, just like when she was with the other slaves as Ari, she patted and ruffled her hair and ears, as beastmen started pouring in over the horizon.
"Wha---"
Realization hit her late, and the Qliphat flushed before fiddling with her sword hilt and looking away. There was a faint hint of red on her cheeks.
"I pulled off that rescue because it was beneficial to me, that's all...
it's not like my body moved by itself or something. Don't be mistaken into thinking I'm a kind person. I'll---I'll bite. Nya!"
Ellania tugged at her own clothing, face looking the other way.
"A-anyway, the reinforcements have arrived. I'll go check on which direction the oni retreated from."
"Haha~" Felicia giggled at her friend's bashfulness before patting her on the back. "Sure, sure, whatever you say Nia~"
Deciding to halt her teasing in favour of the more serious matter at hand, she nodded. "Good idea, the more information we can get on them the better. Keep an out for anything we don't already know about."
"I'll see if I can pass this little one to her parents and explain the situation, or at least what we've seen of it, to the reinforcements. Hmm, can you think of someone who'd be their captain? If not I'll just grab a random soldier." She asked thoughtfully, not having the greatest memory of the reports she read a while back about Fuyu Machi.
"From the looks of it, I think it's just the guards who have arrived. I do remember that the city has two Guardians, but I don't really see either of them here. The Guards are a reasonable bunch, though they're not too excited about non-beastmen species. You won't believe how stiff they got around me during the first few months."
Snorting, Ellania took to the air, hovering just above the crown of the trees. As she glanced around carefully, she started noticing gaps forming in the treeline, scattered about haphazardly in the same direction, heading out of the forest. Trees tumbled to the ground as she looked on.
"Found the rough direction. I'll attempt pursuit, see if I can catch a straggler or two. I'll leave this part to you."
Then she flew off in that direction.
"I see, thanks." She responded as she watched the reinforcements arrive in a quick yet stable march, some with tails, ears, wings and even horns like an Oni's.
"Alright, take care, if anything happens I'll leave a mark or something." She nodded, before turning towards a pair of beastmen soldiers warily approaching her.
It seemed they had vaguely recognized Ellania before she took off, hence giving Felicia a bit more credibility and not assuming she was a random kidnapper that had taken away a young child amidst all this confusion. But still, their distrust of her was clear to see.
"What happened here?" A beastman with slitted irises and a forked tongue interrogated her calmly, hiding his hostility and giving her a chance to explain herself. At the same time, the other soldier, with a bat's wings, held out his hands, clearly wanting to take the child in her arms from her.
Handing the little girl over compliantly, who seemed a little reluctant to leave, Felicia faced the tall snakeman and explained everything that had happened from the very beginning, including why they were at the Beastman Mountain in the first place.
"Skydiving..." He hissed doubtfully, but after affirming the little girl as an eye witness, he took her words as the truth.
"On behalf of the beastmen, I thank you for saving this child and helping battle against the Oni. We'll handle things from here, so you and your friend are free to do your business." He thanked them politely before dismissing them quickly, seemingly having a particularly negative view towards the non-beastmen.
Realizing she was free to go, Felicia found herself at a bit of a loss as the pair walked away from her. Still, wanting to do something whilst she awaited news from Nia, she searched around the wreckage and debris for possible survivors.
From the direction which Ellania had flown off to, there was a resounding explosion, followed shortly by a startled laugh, and a few ten minutes later the Qliphat emerged from behind some trees, chuckling before tripping over a tree root and landing face first in the dirt.
"Ow, that actually hurt, dammit! Hahaha!"
As she pushed herself to a sitting position, it was immediately quite noticeable that Ellania had taken quite a bit of damage. Her clothes were burnt and tattered in many places, while her hair was singed partially and angry red patches riddled the giggling girl's exposed skin.
"Apparently the oni I managed to chase down was a variant, and it blew itself up just as I was about to capture it! Good to know, nyahaha!"
Surprised by Nia's sudden appearance, and just as she rescued an unconscious child with a bear's ears buried in debris, she quickly made her way over and checked on her wounds.
"Ah, you idiot, be more careful next time!" She scolded as she knocked her crazy friend on the head, careful to avoid areas she was injured. Immediately, she set to work cooling down her burns using her ice magic. She also quickly tore a nearby curtain from a ruined house and used it to wrap her friend's open wounds.
"Good work on finding that out though... things could have turned out much worse." She commented as she finished up her emergency treatment.
The boy in her arms groggily awoke, with Felicia already having treated his burn wounds to the best of her abilities. Suddenly, he darted out of her arms and ran towards someone behind her.
"Papa!" He cried out tearfully, as a bear man with a fancy hat and bulging muscles quickly glomped his son in his arms. After their tearful reunion, they thanked her gratefully, realizing he would've suffocated or died from his injuries without her help.
And then, it was just her and Nia again.
"So what now? I don't think we can go skydiving with your current injuries~" She mentioned calmly with a hint of playfulness, all signs of her solemnity and sorrow clearly erased by the new adventure she's having.
"Pish posh, apple sauce! It's just my body that's taken a beating, not my wings. Plus, I made a promise and I intend to keep it, more so since you patched me up. Also also, if a little injury like that puts me off of my daily schedule, then I can just retire and forget all about seeking vengeance~"
Ellania's tone was as breezy as it had been up until this point, but a little iron had unknowingly slipped into it nearing the end, and despite her passionate smile, flames of a different kind of passion danced in her irises. Then she shook her head and went back to her usual self.
"Ah, so your wings mean more to you than your body I see I see~"
"Even if we can go skydiving still, since your wings are fine, that doesn't mean your body won't be unfazed by it all. A strong wind can bite like a blade you know? But if you say so~"
"Haha true~ Same here to be honest~" Although Felicia's tone had no signs of the same severity Ellania had.
"Well, it is true that we got side-tracked and I'm starving thanks to the fight. Guess we'd better have a meal in the city first. The mountain's up ahead, so...this way!"
She started leading the way forward.
"Okay, I wonder what the local cuisine is like here, to be honest. Do... beastmen eat meat?" She inquired curiously as she walked alongside her battered friend.
"They do, actually. I believe I asked about the matter before, but according to them it's normal. I mean, sometimes humans do eat humans as well."
Ellania quipped, following the trail that led further into the forest and closer to the mountain.
"...I see." Felicia responded slowly, somewhat discomforted by the latter half of her statement.
