An important character makes his debut here. Pay attention and enjoy!
Chapter 17
The Thunderstorm
"The hell?!" Shades was trying to run away once he finally realized exactly who it was they were fighting. Then out of nowhere, the earth shook and he fell on his face. It wasn't a particularly powerful or destructive quake, but it was so sudden he couldn't help but lose his balance. "An earthquake…? Now?"
"I guess Barren swung his hammer," a certain woman's voice said from behind him, making Shades's blood turn to ice. "Probably against one of the monsters you people were using. I can't imagine any of you being strong enough to force him otherwise."
Reese Shades didn't even bother looking behind him. Pathetically, he crawled like mad as if trying to get away from the devil. He wasn't paying attention to how far he was going, nor to exactly where. He wanted to escape. He needed to escape. He had no other choice but to escape. He was so determined to get away, he never noticed the beat up, unconscious bodies of his men laid out across the town.
'Gotta get away! Gotta get away!' He told himself repeatedly as he ran. Miraculously, he made it to the village's exit. If he could get out, then he could escape them. Escaper her. That is what he convinced himself of. He didn't consider that even if he did escape the village and hid in the woods, his pursuers would probably still catch him. In any case, he wasn't going to find out, for the one he was so desperate to escape had appeared in a blur in front of the exit.
Kyra Slavis.
"Eek!" He cried out. He didn't stop running. If he did, he would certainly regret it. In a split decision, he swung his sword at her. With ease, Kyra blocked his swing with her own knife, knocking both Shades's sword out of his hand as well as knocking him back and making him fall on his back.
"Hm…Level 3. Your strength stat isn't too high. Just G or H… your agility and dexterity are probably around C or B, I guess. You are good at running away, but certainly, those aren't the stats of a proper tamer. As I suspected, you have a special magic that allows you to tame monsters out of your league. Am I right?"
In a detached tone, she muttered her guess on Shades's stats. These were conclusions she determined from her brief time observing him and from stopping him just now. Shades had heard in the past that Kyra Slavis could create accurate estimations of people's status, being able to tell the ranking of even their basic stats. In his case, she had guessed everything nearly perfectly. His strength and endurance stats were his worst stats. His agility was at C, and his dexterity was at B. It was certainly strange to have your stats seen through like that.
"W-Why are you here, Thunderstorm?" Shades asked her hesitantly. He had no plan at this point. This was way outside their predictions. HIs only hope now was if Insley and the others noticed something wrong and came to Forest Village to investigate. He knew that was wishful thinking. Even if by some miracle all of the raiding parties came to their rescue, the opponent was Kyra Slavis, one of Zeus's elites.
It was then he finally processed what she had said before when the tremor had happened.
"Y-You said Barren before? As in Barren Trogger, the Earth Shaker? He's here, too?!"
"No, not here. He's at one of the other potentially targeted towns and villages. Prod Town, I believe. Alystar is at Seymour, Lezanna is at Pink Leaf Village, and Celesta is at Tayta Village."
His head was spinning at the names he had all but forgotten at this point, but now it hit him like a Minotaur. The Werewolf King, Black Tigress, and Infinity Elf were at the places they were attacking!
"Now, I have a question for you," Kyra continued. She sounded cool, calm, and professional, as if this was a normal conversation. "As impressive as your magic sounds, somehow I doubt you and your cohorts could capture monsters like a Serpent Dragon, a Stone Beast, a Devil Orc, an Armarosaurus, and whatever four beasts you got in those crates outside yourselves. I especially can't imagine that you could get them out of the Dungeon yourselves, either. It;s both an illegal and a difficult endeavor. I suppose you guys bought them off a familia who specializes in such business. One whose members are quite strong and skilled themselves."
The watch tower in Forest Village provided a convenient way for her to observe her friends as they completed their respective roles and the monsters they fought. Her top tier senses allowed her to watch them work as if she was there herself.
"...You were the one who killed the Goblins I sent to Noda Village, weren't you?" Shades's tone became hollow, empty. It was as if he had broken. "How did you know we'd attack?"
She shrugged. "A hunch."
A bitter laugh escaped his mouth. "This village is completely empty. What happened to all the people?"
"I spirited them all away from here."
She said it so simply, but what she had done was anything but. She had entered every home and building as well as searched every street corner, and systematically grabbed each and every person in the village. She grabbed people in their beds, sitting at their kitchen tables, out on walks, working in their businesses, in the bath, and even the falna blessed guards couldn't stop her. For babies, she grabbed their cribs along with them. For the bedridden sick, she carried them on their beds. She took them all to a safe grove away from the fighting and before any of the villagers could ask questions or even be aware of them being taken. The Level 4s who saw all this felt a renewed fear toward Kyra. She might've been the most level headed of their elite survivors, but the fact she went through with such an insane evacuation strategy instead of just getting them to leave on their own showed she too thought on another level of logic.
"It was easier to just move the people to a safe place by force instead of trying to convince them all of an incoming attack," Kyra said flippantly. "We hardly had the time to do things properly. Of course, my reasons weren't entirely altruistic. I could have just planned to battle you all outside this village, like my friends are doing to yours right now, but this village being fenced provided an unique means to trap you all and prevent you from escaping. I believe in working smarter, not harder."
"Y-You're telling me you just snatched up everyone who lives here?! Even for you people, that's insane!"
"It isn't impossible for me. Although, I admit it was selfish. I'll have to apologize to them for this. Maybe do that dogeza thing from the Far East. But…" Kyra's conversational tone darkened. "I hope they will understand when they learn it was for catching the bastards who were going to raze their homes to the ground. Not to mention, those Goblins you sent did quite a bit of damage. Damage you specifically caused. I'll make sure you pay your debts with interest."
Shades mind-or his soul, more accurately-went dark. As he laid on the ground, dumbfounded, something inside him snapped.
"Tell me this. Why are all even here? I mostly forgot that you people were still alive somewhere, but why did you come now? Are you planning on returning to Orario? Did you somehow hear that we were going to do this? Is that why you're here?!"
They had been as careful as they could be to avoid leaving any evidence of their plans to avoid catching the attention of Braver or Hildrsleif, lest either of them picked up on what they were doing and stopped them before they could do anything. Of course, that was only in regards to information reaching Orario. They were less careful about leaks outside the city. If Kyra Slavis, who was reputed for her sharp intellect, discovered the crumbs, then she could find the path.
"No, we aren't planning to return to Orario. I also didn't know about this convoluted plot of yours until we got here."
"So, you're saying, this was all chance?"
"Suppose so. You all were just unlucky."
Shades had no response. He could think up nothing to say to that. So he laughed. He laughed at the absurdity of it al,sounding a mixture of mad and innocent. He and Insley managed to accumulate enough numbers and power to bring down a small nation. They had bought monsters that could single handedly bring down cities. Them, a second rate familia who was stuck in the mud as others surpassed them. They were in the perfect position to leave their mark on the world. To scar it. But what stopped them from doing that was not the heroes of today, but the lingering relics of a bygone age? That, through total luck, just happened to return here after over a decade of absence at the same time of their plan? It was all so ludicrous that he couldn't help but laugh!
"Don't fuck with us, Zeus Familia!" In an instant, his laughing face warped into monstrous contempt. "You failed the 3 Quests! You were expelled by Loki and Freya Familia! You left and disappeared and were forgotten! You think you can just return and get in the way of our hard earned plans! Just how much do you look down on us trash who could never be like you! Stop acting so shameless, you old failures!"
Kyra said nothing in response to his heated and enraged rant. She was unmoved and unperturbed by him, which only angered him more.
"You know what?! Screw it! If we are all screwed anyway, I might as well go out with no regrets! Right?!" He leaped onto his feet and immediately started reciting the chant that activated his magic. "Hear me, listen to me, creatures beyond humanity. Give in to my thrall. Follow my desire. Feel my heart! Deveor, raze, decimate my foes! Obey me! Monstrae Stupor!"
Kyra watched as Shades glowed with an ominous, dark violet light. She didn't flinch when the light flashed and pulsed, going in every direction like a ripple. She knew the light was not meant to affect her. It was for the monsters still in the crates on the other side of the village gates. They shook as the monsters inside, who had been quiet and submissive thanks to a mixture of drugs and the control collars around their necks, began to stir. They started to go into a frenzied state.
Shades's magic was as tricky as it was amazing. It was less a taming spell, and more mind control specific to monsters. With it, he could control nearly any monster, but there were catches. The monster's state depended on his own mental state. If he was calm, they would be calm, and easily controlled, but if he was agitated, then they too would be agitated, thus harder to control. With it, he could control monsters above his level, but it was difficult. His magic was basically him forcing his will onto the monsters he was trying to control. While some were easy, others were far harder. And that was when he was in a relatively calm state. IF he attempted to control something truly strong in an angry state, the monster would react and it'd be like riding a mad bull.
"Let's die together, Thunderstorm!" He declared.
But right now, Shades did not care that he couldn't control t. He didn't care about the consequences. He didn't care that even by doing this, Kyra and her friends likely wouldn't die. He also didn't care that, most likely, it would be him and his men that would be killed. He was done. If he could make her flinch, if he could see even a flash of fear on her beautiful, indifferent, cold face, he could die with satisfaction.
But he would not get to see even that.
"Dumbass." Kyra said, her expressionless face shifting with a single smirk that was subtly confident, cocky, and excited. "Bless me, gods of thunder and lightning. Kaminari."
Electricity radiated from Kyra's body. She leaped off the ground like a rising lightning bolt, flying over the 10 foot tall gates. She was over the heads of four lower floor monsters. The stone monster, Obsidian Soldier. The wolf-like monster, Loup Garou. The lizard monster, Lizardman Elite. The rock monster, Gargoyle. They had all broken out of their crates on their own. Undoubtedly, they were stirred by Shades's magic.
'A bit on the weak side, aren't they?' Kyra thought, a bit disappointed. All of these monsters were born on the higher levels of the Deep Floors. At best, they were at Level 4. The monsters the others fought were all on par with Level 5s. She was looking forward to bragging to her friends that she took out 4 Level 5 monsters on her own. Still, these four could certainly cause horrific damage if not stopped, plus Shades magic put them all in a frenzied state. 'Four is still more than one. Bragging rights are still mine.'
The 3 pairs of knives strapped on either side of her waist flew off of her as if by telekinesis. Kyra's only magic, Kaminari, was an enchantment type spell granting her control over electricity. It was the lightning equivalent of Alystar's blizzard magic and a certain girl's wind. Of course, it had the bonus effect of being able to control metal objects via magnetism. She willed for her knives to circle around her. Her knives hovered suspended behind her, linked by a stream of electricity.
After what felt to her as too long, the monsters finally noticed her. The Gargoyle, the only one of them capable of flight, lunged up into the air at her. The circle of knives started to spin rapidly, creating a look like a disc of electrical machinery that created a buzzing sound. She gestured and the electric disc shot at the Gargoyle, bisecting it before it knew what was happening. The disc did not stop as it swiftly executed the Lizard Man Elite, the Obsidian Soldier, and finally the Loup Garou. They were dead without Kyra ever touching the ground.
Everything was slow for her. The monsters, their deaths, and even her own movements. When she used her magic, she did not feel fast, everyone just moved too slowly as if not moving at all. Kaminari put her brain in a state of intense tachypsychia, or slow motion perception. It made it quite easy to carry away an entire village.
"...Ah!" Shades let out a pained groan. One of the effects of his control magic was that his senses were linked to his thralls. Something that was both a strength and weakness. Their pain was his, and lethal in the worst case scenario. Although fortunately, the swiftness of his monsters' deaths meant they felt little to no pain. But still, four links being severed simultaneously and so swiftly was like having needles pulled out of you roughly, only much worse. It would not kill him, but the trauma of it would have made him pass out had Kyra not returned that moment and zapped him to keep him conscious. "Ah!"
"You do not get to faint," she said cruelly, keeping him standing with her hand on his chest. "Not until I clear up your misunderstanding."
He looked at her dazed. The stress of what was only three minutes at most left him barely conscious. Even so, the contempt he had towards her was still visible in his expression. She met his contempt with a stormy look.
"You accused me before of getting in your way because we looked down on you. That we enjoy getting in your way because it's easy. Wrong. It's because I hate you. While it is true that once I caught onto your plans, I had to stop you, but that isn't my main reason for getting my friends to crush your plans. As I expected, your senses are linked to the monsters under your control, so you must remember what happened at Noda Village."
To be honest, at that moment, his mind felt fuzzy and his recollection was choosing not to work. Noda Village… yes, he remembered it. It was supposed to be one of the targets, but they decided to not go for it due to her-Thunderstorm's-presence. He didn't recognize her before because her hair was now black when it used to be snow white. Before she had shown up, there was a boy trying to protect a girl from his goblins. His wannabe hero act pissed Shades off so he let his Goblins beat him up. He enjoyed that.
"You hurt a boy during your so called 'reconnaissance". That boy was kind and good and a better human being than either you or I, and you hurt him. I could never let you go after that."
Her cold face changed into something wrathful. It was seeing that face that reminded Shades of why this cold woman was called Thunderstorm. Once upon a time, she was known as the Assassin. Her aesthetic and fighting style made that an appropriate second name for her. But then an incident happened in Orario that put many people in danger. People she cared about. The sight of which made her reveal her true self; a wrathful warrior of thunder and lighting that tore through that threat like a thunderstorm. Since then, she was called the Thunderstorm, because when she was enraged, when the people she loved the most were hurt, she was like a storm that could destroy everything.
"Do you know why I chose this village to defend? It's because I assumed that whoever had your magic would want to be as close to all of the monsters he had snared as he could be. Seems I was correct."
She was. Forest Village was not dead center of the other villages they were planning to attack, but it was closest to it. He had a link to all of the monsters they had caged. While total control from a distance was not possible, he could at least help get the monsters under control long enough to retrap them.
"I wanted to make the one who hurt that kid hurt worse, but you know what? It isn't worth it. You guys aren't worth it. I know that kid. This will be nothing but an unpleasant memory on his journey, but for you, you will live with this failure for the rest of your life, you pathetic little man. Also, one more thing. My friends never looked down on you, so don't blame us for your shortcomings, you asshole."
Finishing everything she wanted to say, she tased him unconscious. Wilbur and the other Level 4s, who had eliminated all of the bandits long ago and were observing Kyra and Shades, looked at their friend with a renewed and healthy sense of fear.
'Scary!'
'Dammit, Kyra!' Kuda thought. 'All those brains and the best plan you could think of was to drag every villager out of their homes?! Work smarter, not harder my ass!'
He was running towards something. As he ran he could see from a distance a large group of people moved to a clearing. Simultaneously, he could see Alystar, Lezanna, Celsta, and Barren's fights. He had to adjust himself to avoid stumbling after Barren caused a small quake.
'You're all too unserious!' Thought the guy who abandoned his post. Albeit, it was to save a pair of children. Kuda's eyes could see it clearly. A monster was heading towards two young kids on its path. In all likelihood, it was a separate monster from the thieves, as it did not have a control collar. It was a Blood Saurus born on the surface. It shouldn't be in this area, but it might've strayed from its habitat attracted by the presence of the enslaved monsters the thieves possessed. The two children were playing in the forest. It was unclear if they were related to any of the attacked villages.
The Blood Saurus came into the two kids-a boy and girl, likely siblings-view. Immediately, the brother moved to shield his sister from the charging monster. Kuda reached them. He leaped over the head of the Blood Saurus, unsheathing his broadsword midair, landed in between it and the children, then cut its whole body in half before it knew what happened.
The kids looked both confused and in awe at what happened. One moment, they were playing together in the forest, then in the next moment they were almost killed by a giant monster, then saved by a man they didn't know with a magnificent sword and incredible strength. The man turned to face them. In the light of the morning sun highlighting his boyish yet handsome features, and the sword on his back, he looked very much like a hero from an epic.
"Are you two alright?" He asked with a smile.
The two children were speechless. They could not think for a moment.
"Kiyomaro! Akari!" A man's panicked voice cried out. Kuda saw a man run towards them, and his eyes narrowed with suspicion. This man moved far faster than any ordinary man. He also had a sword at his waist. Kuda didn't hesitate to swing his own sword at the man once he reached them. The swordsman reacted instantly, unsheathing his sword and blocking Kuda's attack. The reaction alone proved he was a seasoned warrior, and the fact he didn't get knocked back showed he was no weakling. No doubt he was far stronger than any of the bandits. He was top class.
"Who are you?" Kuda demanded.
"That's my line," the swordsman countered, looking just as threatening.
"D-Dad!" the two kids blurted at the swordsman. They became very confused at the escalation of the situation. They ran to the swordsman.
"Dad?" Kuda said, confused. "You are their father?"
"Of course," he said. He looked at Kuda as if trying to solve a riddle with limited clues. "You… saved them?"
"A monster was going to trample over two kids. I did what I had to."
"I see. Well, thank you for that."
Both of them still had their swords pointed at each other. The swordsman was a tall older man with black hair and looks that told Kuda he was from the Far East. He wore simple clothing. The way he held his sword reminded him of a certain man from Hera Familia who was no longer around.
"You are a samurai, aren't you?" Kuda said.
"Does it matter?"
"I suppose that depends. Are you working with the bandits who are attacking the villages?"
He looked genuinely confused. Not to mention insulted by the accusation. "No, I would never. Are you related to the ones who forced everyone out of Forest Village?"
"What?" His two children asked at the mention of their home.
"What do you mean everyone was forced out of the village, dad?" Kiyomaro asked.
"How indeed. My mind nearly snapped in shock at the absurdity of learning that the entire population of my village was ripped from their homes and taken to the forest. If I hadn't been distracted by that, I would have kept a better eye on the two of you."
At the mention of Forest Village, Kuda's faced tense. His expression was almost comical. "...You're from Forest Village. I see so were you not there for… the spiriting away?"
"The what?" The swordsman scowled at him. "No. We weren't. My family and I were out camping for the past week. If we had, no way would I have allowed such a thing."
"That's some timing," Kuda mused, he was starting to sweat from the embarrassment. "Although, I doubt you would have had a say, although you could have struggled… I'm sorry! That was my wife!"
"Y-You're wife?!" The man gaped.
"She's brilliant but kind of selfish, too! I'm really sorry!"
If the woman in question was there, she probably would have argued that he was more selfish. That would have led to a very vocal and loud argument that the children and their father were spared from.
"Please forgive her. She meant no harm."
"...I think we need an explanation." The swordsman said at last, sheathing his katana.
"Yeah," Kuda agreed, also sheathing his greatsword. They both needed an explanation, but both men could acknowledge the other wasn't their enemy. If this man was a part of the bandits, things would be more complicated. Kuda introduced himself. He explained how Kyra had discovered a plot that could put all of the nearby towns and villages in danger, so they all made plans to protect the area. When Kuda finished his explanation, the samurai took it all calmly.
"...That is quite the story," he said. "I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen exactly what you described happening at the other towns and villages… You really are Kuda Zeldon, aren't you? Your friends are all from the Zeus Familia?"
"I am," Kuda shrugged. "That's us."
"I never thought I would even get to meet any of you. Not after a decade ago."
"Yeah, I'd bet."
"My name is Sakuto Gojouno. Once again, thank you for saving my kids. And my thanks to your entire familia for stepping in to protect the people who live here. I shudder when I think about what would happen had you all not been here. To think, I was camping when this was happening. Well, even if I wasn't I might not have been able to protect Forest Village on my own. Certainly not the other towns and villages. You all prevented a tragedy,"
"We were just doing what we wanted," Kuda shrugged. He looked towards Seymour. "Besides… it might not be over just yet."
"What do you mean?"
"The ones who organized this scheme. They could have chosen more rewarding targets with all of the power and numbers they had amassed. Certainly, they could have chosen targets less risky than ones so close to Orario. I'm not that smart, but I know this much. Whoever planned this wasn't just greedy, they're desperate."
He saw the figures of his friend Alystar chasing a lone runaway bandit. The leader, he presumed. He was desperate to get away. Not simply out of fear, but something else.
"And until the desperate are stopped, you never know what they will do. I know this because I'm also desperate."
And this chapter ends here! Hope you enjoyed it. I hope you found Kyra as badass as I intended. Despite coming across as somewhat saner than the rest of the Zeus Familia, she is actually just as crazy. She didn't get her alias for nothing.
I trust that the loyal fan's of Omori-sensei's glorious work caught one of the new characters having the same family name as a certain Far Eastern girl who was both in the same familia and also a rival to one of the most popular elves in the series? If you didn't, you can learn about Kaguya Gojouno if you read volume 14 of the main series, watch season 4 of the anime, watch the Memoria Freese event Astrea Record on youtube, or read its novelization. All of which are good ways to enjoy the series.
Honestly, it's not necessarily important that Sakuto shares the name as Kaguya, at least not to the main story. I will say that Kaguya is aware of him, despite never meeting him personally. And they also share similar backstories since they both come from the same family.
As of the free release of this chapter, the next chapters of this fanfic are available for just 2 dollars on my patreon on patreon.com/TheWorldForger.
That's all I have to say. See you next time, beloved readers!