“So all that magic power and you can’t make an ice cube?” Warumasa says.

  “The arcane arts aren’t something to be trifled with. Especially to make something as plain as ice cubes.” Apherward spits back.

  “Plain my hide! The girl is bruised! Make some ice already!”

  “FINE!!!”

  “Ice Bolt.”

  Ren points her fingers at a wooden chair and a shard or ice stabs into it. She then pulls it out and wraps a strip of cloth around it and wraps that to her wrist. She also applies a fresh new bandage on her shoulder. With the makeshift icepack affixed to one of her injured wrists and bandage at her shoulder, she remains still while the voices in her head think her status over.

  Ren

  Level 10 Samurai

  Strength: 21

  Magic: 27

  Agility: 15

  Vitality: 17

  Magic Capacity: Low

  Titles: Blue Pine’s Favorite Adventurer

  Skills:

  Swordsmanship Level 3

  Housekeeping Level 1

  Netami Style

  Netami Style: Form 1: Flash

  Netami Style Form 2: Swallow Dive

  Netami Style Form 3: Helm Splitter

  Netami Style Form 4: Blade Wave

  Martial Arts Level 2

  Netami Style Form 5: Horizon

  Spells:

  Ice Bolt Level 2

  Fireball Level 1

  Haste Level 1

  Raise Zombie Level 1

  Stone Wall Level 2

  Water Arrow Level 2

  Blind Level 2

  Locate Location Level 1

  Project Mind Level 1

  Magic Soft Fall Level 2

  Chain Lightning Level 1

  Basic Barrier Level 2

  Whisper Sanctum Level 1

  Magic Sense Level 2

  Invisibility Level 1

  Magic Lock Level 1

  Magic Impact Level 3

  Magic Pierce Level 2

  Status: Injured

  Left Hand Bruised Severity 2 Bandaged

  Right Shoulder Cut Severity 3 Bandaged

  “Devils damn it! At the rate we’re going, we’re going to have to kill the next guy by having the girl grip me in her teeth.” Warumasa says.

  “Yes, what have you.” Apherward says.

  “We haven’t even seen hide nor hair of that Parnidot guy.”

  “Ah, right! We’re not done until he’s been settled.”

  “Yes, I can’t rest until I’ve tasted his blood and settled him in a grave.”

  “Okay, so what’s the plan?”

  “Plan?”

  “Yes, a plan.”

  “Uhh…”

  “You don’t have a plan, do you?”

  “Well, I’m sorry! I was busy basking in the blood of our foes!”

  “Ugh, why must I tolerate this dullard of a demon?”

  “Well, ya prissy wizard bitch, what’s your plan?”

  “Why do I have to come up with a plan?”

  “You had the girl run in here too!”

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  “So what?”

  “Even then, if you’re going to complain that I don’t have a plan, then maybe you should have a plan. Or maybe you’re just a dullard of a wizard?”

  “Still your tongue, demon. I’m the furthest thing from a dullard.”

  “THEN COME UP WITH A PLAN, OR STAND WITH ME ON THE DULLARD LEVEL!!!”

  While voices in her head bicker about one thing or another, Ren leapt down from a window to the outside of the temple. There, a snake headed demon stood over a beaten Gilligan Albrinter. Her landing did not go unnoticed. Pengrime the demon and what fighters remain snap to attention.

  “You!” Pengrime hissed in a low voice. “What do you want?”

  “Targets.” Ren said in her flat tone of voice.

  Ren gripped onto her sword. It is sheathed, but she was about to change that.

  “Blade flashing, steel drawn.

  Your blade sang first, feel cold light.

  In a blink, you die.

  Form 1: Flash”

  In the time it takes lightning to flash, she closed the distance between her and the demon and brought her sword down on Pengrime’s shoulder and cut downward. Unfortunately, he wasn’t cut fatally. Still, the skill took him by surprise. Blood sprayed out in the wound she managed to open.

  “Aguh! What?” Pengrime went wide eyed as he realized he had been cut.

  Pengrime tries to launch his fist into Ren, but she ducks under it and backs away from him. With deft feat, she moves to a mercenary still fighting Gilligan’s men. While he faced away from Ren, she ran her sword through the man’s back. He screeched and looked down at a blade emerging from his chest. The blade suddenly vanished as he felt a tug from his back and blood began to spray out. The man he was fighting stumbles back as he tries to get a better look at the situation. There he sees Ren with a bloodied blade and bandaged in a few places.

  “R- Ren! Blue Pine’s Favorite Adventurer!” the man manages to stammer.

  Ren did not respond. She only stepped to the side and cut down another man who wasn’t paying attention.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” Pengrime leads his words with a punch aimed at Ren’s head.

  Ren deftly dodges his attack and tries to cut him. Unfortunately, his snake head rushed to move between his chest and Ren’s sword.

  “LIKE YOU WOULD LEAVE THE HOUSE! YOU’RE JUST LIKE EVERY OTHER WIZARD! A SHUT IN WITH A SUPERIORITY COMPLEX AND NO SOCIAL- mmm…” Warumasa stopped mid sentence.

  “What is wrong with you?” Apherward spoke with disgust.

  “Aw. Fresh mortal blood! Wait! What? Are we outside? Are we fighting?”

  “What? When?”

  “I don’t know! Screw this! I’m getting my fill of blood!”

  Ren tried to strike at Pengrime, but her sword can’t cut his head. The chest seems perfectly fine to cut when last she fought the demon, but not once has she managed to cut at his coiled snake head. He also has a strategy of using his snake head to launch attacks out of the range of Ren’s sword. She had little means to definitively kill the demon. In response to this scenario, she backed away from Pengrime and stabbed some mercenary fighting against the Albrinter troops.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” Pengrime shouts.

  His snake head lurches out to snap at Ren. She side steps the snake head and takes a hand off her sword to cast a spell.

  “Haste.”

  As Pengrime moved to retract his head, Ren moved at a blazing speed towards his chest. It was a race between Pengrime’s recoiling head and Ren’s uninjured legs boosted by a spell. The finish line is Pengrime’s heart. One that Ren wins. Alongside the blood spewing from Pengrime’s wound, his heart now bursts as a sword runs through it. Horrid amounts of black blood shoots out like a fountain. Ren doesn’t bother staying to see if this wound kills him. With her new speed, she rushes to find a mortal target to coat her blade in blood.

  “It’s Ren! Ren is here to save us!” a man cheers.

  “Holy shit! Ren is here to kill us!” the man next to him screams.

  The man who cheered puts his hand on the shoulder of the man who screamed.

  “Hey man! You know, we have a great prisoner policy. You don’t have to fight to the death.”

  The man who screamed wordlessly dropped his sword and raised his hands. With both Gilligan and Pengrime unable to take command, the fighting became much less organized, but Ren was still running around stabbing mercenary forces. Even if they were commanderless, when they realized that the battle was shifting against them, they began to surrender en masse.

  “Ah! Ren! Thank you! You’ve saved us.” a man approached Ren. “We’re checking on Gilligan now. I’m sorry to say, but I think our unit is done for. We need to retreat to the rear.”

  “Yeah, sure. I need a new target.” Ren said flatly while jumping up and down.

  “Oh! Yes. You can still fight. Ah! I suppose we were going to surround the building. But now, I do not know if we’ve formed a frontline.”

  “Come on! Come on! Come on!” Ren said increasingly faster with her usual tone.

  “Ugh- bff - well… There was a beam of light at the front of the temple not too long ago. I don’t think that was from anyone on our side. Some of our newly captured prisoners also ratted out Mackamer. They said he was on his way here. They said he was coming through from the street on the west with reinforcements.”

  At those words, Ren darted off faster than an arrow loosed from a bow. The troops could only look on in admiration.

  “There goes our hero!”

  Mackamer’s machinations require that all threats be eliminated. As much as he would like to say that he can take care of the Albrinters he cannot. The Albrinter family has the authority to seize and search things as they like and confiscate anything illegal they find in his inventory. From a political perspective, he is a wealthy merchant. Even he has to submit to a noble. So if the Albrinters decided to search any cargo or storehouse of importance, there is nothing he could do. This is why he had endeavored to see the noble family killed.

  He had committed a lot of money, manpower and made a pact with demons for the sake of his ambition. With so much power at his disposal, he should be able to see that the Albrinter family’s little peacekeeping effort ends in disaster. Unfortunately, it seems that all the mercenaries and demons he contracted with have thus failed to kill even one of the sons and daughters of Lord Albrinter. So he must use all his power to ensure that the deed is done. He has to commit everything to make sure this succeeds. All his resources. All his reserves. Everything.

  A man who appears to be in his 30s steps out into the sunlight. His shoulder length black hair is now adorned with a ciclet. He wears lighter armor. A few plates here and there on broad and vital areas on his chest. Around his waist is a utility belt filled with a number of bottles of powders and liquids. As he steps forward, he is greeted by men loyal to his coin, armed and armored. It is Daniel Mackamer.

  “Tell the men on the front to join us as we arrive.” Mackamer says to his gathered mercenaries.

  He and his men march on the sons and daughters of Lord Albrinter. Mackamer would link up with troops on the ground and work their way down the list of noble brats. With any luck, maybe a demon or two were still fighting his battles. He rolled up one of his sleeves to look at a tattoo on his right hand. A demonic symbol rested there. In it, lights and a bit of smoke drifted from his skin. With it, he can tell that the demon of greed, Pengrime, demon of pride, Praisegg and demon of lust, Felloice were still active. It was troubling since Trashan had been defeated. This was troubling. That over half the demons he had sacrificed for were slain, but reports show that not a single Albrinter was killed meant ill tidings.

  Parnidot stood over the body of the heathen Sardon Albrinter. That and a demon who took over people and made them the pawns of the demon. He stood resolute in the face of demons and heathens. He wore fine armor and carried Elofraye Shield of Divine Dominance. With it’s divine might, he would smite all who praise evil or denounce good. With his divine gift provided by Yerl God of Nobility, he sensed a threat. A demonic force begins it’s approach towards him from the west. He and a few of his believers begin to march to meet the threat.

  “With me! The source of all that ails us, has shown itself. So says I! For I am right and righteous!” Parnidot speaks to what few zealots stand beside him at the front of the temple.

  Ren rushes around the temple with blinding speed. There she sees them. 2 forces or armed and armored men stand across from each other on the street. At their center are Parnidot and Mackamer. This is Ren’s chance to kill them both and complete her quests. She runs at them with her blade drawn. She moves as fast as a bullet. Soon she is flying right at them. Soon she is not flying at them because of her speed, but because her feet have come off the ground. In fact, her legs were tossed up and over her as she built a dangerous amount of momentum. At some point during her run, she had sustained an injury.

  Status: Injured

  Left Ankle Twisted Severity 3

  As she is tossed by her own momentum, she loses her center of gravity and despite her attempts to swing her sword at Mackamer and Parnidot.

  “So, you are truly the source of the demons plaguing us.” Parnidot says.

  “You don’t need to stop us. I’m just here for the Albrinters.” Mackamer says. “Leave us, and we will be out of your way shortly.”

  “Not a chance. A slimy fiend like you, needs to be pulled from the roots. Prepare to be-”

  Before Parnidot could finish his response, a girl with red hair crashes into him. Then he crashes into Mackamer. Through both of their formations, a line was carved and their leaders vanished as they were taken and impacted into the street behind them.

  Status: Injured

  Head Scrape Severity 1

  Torso Bruise Severity 2

  Torso Scrape Severity 1

  Left Arm Scrape Severity 1

  Left Leg Scrape Severity 2

  Left Leg Bruise Severity 1

  The forces gathered look at each other. They were just standing around waiting for their leaders to talk it out before the battle. They all just shrug their shoulders before screaming out war cries and charging each other. Off in the distance, Parnidot and Mackamer had a variety of scrapes and bruises now. They began to peel themselves off the floor and stand. The both of them look around and their eyes settle on Ren. Ren pushes herself off the floor, but seems unable to stand on her left foot.

  “You again!” Parnidot pointed a finger at her.

  “Urgh! Well, it seems Blue Pine’s Favorite Adventurer is here.” Mackamer spoke as he wiped blood from his brow.