[TTIABAD] Chapter 117: A Fairy

What the fuck was that dragon ball z bullshit?! I had been watching closely but in the very next moment, half a microsecond it seemed like, Rinkaru was already behind me, a blast being unleashed in the same moment, nearly blowing off my head. My body had reacted on instinct and I was eternally grateful for Xilvia at the moment. Without her beating those instincts into my body… I’d be dead.

Her fucking ki blast or energy beam or whatever, had torn through my shoulder like a bullet through paper. My eyes and Analyze were fully focused on the damn Fairy, but I didn’t miss it as I felt four more people show up. One was a goliath of a man, standing like a small mountain at eight feet tall. He was fully armored, but looked more like a hulking monster of metal than a knight. He wielded what could only be described as a massive hammer or a Maul.

The next one might have been even more existentially terrifying. A mage and this one had a magical effect about her. Lightning sparked between every part of them, rippling over their body, in a mesmerizing display. The moment she appeared, she had stared at Riary and no one else, with a wide smile crossing her face. She wore what could only be described as athletic clothes, reminding me of Konohora’s trainer.

The third was who I was mentally pegging as their healer and diviner. They held a staff and wore a white robe, similar to Konohora. He was an older man, looking like he was around eighty, with what I was sure was a permeant glare on his face. His healing would hopefully be magical, with his divination maybe coming from a god. That meant he had a third power.

The fourth was the assassin, hiding in shadows, quickly flittering to-

“Riary! The assassin is here!” I shouted.

Suddenly, flames blanketed the entire ground, spreading rapidly. They weren’t strong, they weren’t even that harmful, but they were vast. They covered the entire clearing, preventing any shadows from existing. The assassin had been denied an entry point and would have to back up and fight like a normal damn person or stay out of the fight, hoping for an opportunity. We had thought of this move to deny the assassin a way to escape but blocking an assassination attempt while we all fought for our lives was much more useful.

My body was already moving, even before I had shouted, but the blast of power still nearly hit me as I scrambled away, shooting into the ground. The time for words were apparently done. Rinkaru came at me like-

Suddenly Rinkaru was in front of me, right between my eyes, hand glowing. My life flashed before my eyes and my instincts shot into overdrive. My heart rate sped up beyond what was even considered safe levels, red energy leaked from my body, and I moved.

I dodged, the beam shooting out again, blasting trees into ash.

“Aura?” Rinkaru said with a frown, before teleporting.

My instincts screamed at me and I nearly broke my back as I bent backwards. If one of those beams hit me, I was dead. My left arm was already about to fall off, completely numb and immobile. A hit to anywhere would slow me down for a moment and that would be that. I would die.

Again and again, I had to make instant decisions, before the damn fairy teleported. I couldn’t keep this up, this was insane. I hadn’t practiced or even really ‘learned’ aura. It had just happened. Now it came out because if it didn’t I was going to die. Now I did acrobatics, bent my body in ways that would snap my spine, and moved fast enough to Dodge because if I didn’t I was going to die. I abandoned all thought and focused on just moving because if I didn’t…

I was going to die.

*****

Konohora watched in horrified amazement as Derek dodged and moved in ways that was almost too fast for her eyes to track. An array of dozens of beams seemed to shoot out every moment, blasting across the clearing, barely missing Derek and requiring the rest of them to dodge.

She began to run towards Derek, to quickly the end the threat, when it felt like a mountain was barreling down on top of her. She quickly jumped back, only for the man in armor to barrel into the ground, causing it to shake.

“You are going nowhere.” He said, and the swung his Maul at her. Her eyes shot open, raising her staff to meet his, when a loud ringing explosion of metal on metal took place. Standing in front of her was Tyler, shield raised, aura reinforcing his stance.

“Ha!” The man in armor barked and he pulled his hammer back, before blasting Tyler so hard that Konohora nearly went flying from behind him.

“Gah!” Tyler called out, even as he still raised his shield.

“Tyler!” Riary called, but before she could so much as move, a bolt of lightning nearly struck her in the face, requiring her to divert it with her flames.

“Hehe, come on! I’ve always wanted to fight a ‘Genius’.” Was all the lightning woman said before a veritable thunderstorm, hundreds and hundreds of bolts thicker than Konohora’s staff, rained down on her.

Riary responded in kind but it was clear every single bolt was powerful. She wouldn’t be helping them any time soon. Konohora took the opportunity to quickly heal Tyler of his internal injuries, before running around the shield and smacking into the side of the armored man’s Hammer. She felt like she’d smacked into an unmovable wall but the man still had to take a few steps back.

“Ohoh. Nice. Good defense and heavy offense? This might actually be fun!” Suddenly, a billowing white aura sprouted out from the man and his next hit slammed into Tyler’s shield, causing him to be sent flying through a few trees.

The man was already swinging again, barely slowing down, and Konohora met hammer to staff.

For a moment, Konohora’s arms broke. She healed them as fast they did, but they broke and shattered three times before she managed to stop the blow, finding her legs had sunken into the ground.

“All of you are little monsters huh? Too bad. You chose the wrong side.”

“I am a Truth Priestess.” Konohora replied. She couldn’t see the man’s face, but she assumed that was quirking an eyebrow. “So know I only speak Truth. By the end of today, most, if not all, of your team will be dead.” She said, staring into his eyes beneath the helmet.

Her powers bucked for a moment, statements she knew could be wrong different than where she merely spoke a mistake, but she wholeheartedly believed in her own words. Her team would not die here and her enemies would.

A low growl came from the man but an aura slash cut it off, as Tyler came rushing back, sword out and ready.

Nearby, the hundreds of bolts of fire and lighting that lit up the space finally seemed to peter out, while the healer and divination mage in the back had only watched, hardly moving. The fire that covered the entire clearing kept the assassin out and he’d not yet come up somewhere else, waiting for an opportunity.

They were not stationary, they couldn’t afford to be, even now they were all moving lest they get hit from one Rinkaru’s beams. Dodging them was no one’s speciality but it seemed like it was becoming easier and easier as Derek-

“Fuck. Derek is leading her away.” Konohora said.

Tyler’s face immediately became a grimace while Riary continued to concentrate on both their enemies and the field.

“Let’s hope he can handle it.” Tyler replied, raising his sword and shield.

“Let’s hope we can handle this.” Riary said. “That lightning mage is stronger than me and the other two members won’t stay back forever…”

Talking was over as a full on lightning dragon infused with a mage aura crashed towards Riary and the big man ran forward, causing a miniature earthquake as he did.

*****

Move move move move move move, fucking move.

“Slippery.” said a voice in frustration. A single word that took long enough to say I’d already dodged five more teleportations before it was finished. This is fucking insane, I’m going to really die at this rate. I need to counterattack but it seems like she can spam endless teleports and beams with no issue.

But every moment is a victory. Every second alive is another second I can use Analyze to figure her out. Except… except it’s not working right. It’s reading an impossibility, over and over and over again. It doesn’t know how to read that, it doesn’t fit in the framework of this world as I know it.

Is it her Race? Do Fairies make that little sense? Then I need to ignore it, try to focus on her abilit-

I leaned back, feeling more than seeing one of my horns be vaporized, while using my tail to slash across the dirt and send me spinning to dodge the follow up attack. I belatedly realized I’d lost my left arm at some point, entirely, but that wasn’t too surprising. It had gone totally numb and had been flopping around, no surprise I’d missed a hit somewhere.

I leapt up, gaining more air than usual to dodge an attack and-

Two beams. Wider, boxing me in, already on top of me.

I couldn’t dodge, no time, already here.

I fell, slamming into the ground.

“Tsk.” Rinkaru said, already trying to end me before I could even react to the changes.

I’d only been saved because of my wings, my wings that were now gone. The energy beams had force in them as well an insane amount of power and energy. I’d turned, using the momentum of their blast to push me out of the way as they tore my wings apart. Bigger beams were slower, not by much, but enough. Rinkaru didn’t make that mistake twice, nor did I.

I’d underestimated fairies. No, I’d never once thought of them in any serious way. I just lumped them next to dwarf and elf and the monster-kin and etc. Just another race. That was the wrong thing to do. They were the natural enemy of Demons and I should have researched them more. Rinkaru seemed to have unlimited spacial ability and enough energy to blow up the whole city. The terror of Fairies were firmly etching itself into my bones, as the ground began to look like an artillery strike had hit it. As my blood flowed freely and worst of all, I had no idea how I was going to win or survive.

So business as usual really. Riary, Vanessa, The Gaieldr, Happy Go Lucky, and now… Rinkaru. Just another on the list of hopeless battles I’d try my best to get out of. As I clawed my fingers into the ground, sliding my at the harshest angle I could manage and flipping over Rinkaru as she tried to blast me to pieces, an idea hit me.

No, no not an idea. There was no space for thought normally. The only reason I had any was combat experience. I needed to do something nice for Xilvia if I survived this. But a feeling, a knowing.

There was exactly one way I was going to survive this battle.

Everything else fell away, as it seemed like my thoughts were cleaved apart.

There was no way to win.

I could feel Rinkaru’s power. Feel how hopelessly outmatched I was. Feel that same sun like ocean of energy of pure life radiating out from her that I had Vanessa. But there was no arrogance this time, no playing, barely any words. She was dead set on killing me and had gone on the maximum offensive from the start. No, worse, she was pacing herself. Even though I was C-Rank, even though I was weaker, she wasn’t underestimating me at all. I tried leading her to more B-Rank monsters, only for there to not be any. They had cleared the area. She was taking me as a serious threat to destroy. There was no weakness to exploit, no strategy I could use, nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. My team wouldn’t be able to handle the other enemies and come help me, it wasn’t even safe to say they could win.

I had… met the end of my rope. I would die. It was inevitable.

Unless I grew stronger.

Unless I grew more powerful.

Power… I needed more Power.

I had to break through.

To B-Rank!