A Crusader and her Festival 2

Finally, Darkness had shown up. When she'd told her what they were doing, Tanya had written off her odd happiness. Darkness hadn't actually gotten to level up much, since she couldn't hit anything. She had apparently gotten to her current level from eating lots of food that was high in experience.

Giant Toads would be easy to hit. She couldn't possibly miss such a close target.

"Alright Darkness," Tanya said as one of them began to approach, roused from chasing after some livestock by their approach, "I want you to fight it on your own. You need to level up, too."

Tanya looked away from the bulbous blue frog that was looming closer, towards a… frantically undressing Darkness.

She promptly swore. She was not having another 'my clothing is too tight these days, let me bare my chest to you, another female' episode like with Viktoriya.

She could peep all she wanted in the bath houses, after all, and other people might see her out here. "What are you doing?"

Darkness had stripped off her heavy armor, and was just wearing the black bodysuit that was usually hidden beneath other layers. Tanya might have taken the time to ogle, but right now, danger was approaching.

Instead of responding, the woman ran towards the amphibian. Tanya groaned into her hands as she picked up what Darkness had dropped.

"What are you doing!" she repeated, shouting at the girl's back.

"If a Giant Toad sees any metal, it won't swallow you. They can't digest it!" she shouted back. That might have made sense if she wanted to convince it to close in on her so she could hit it up close, but Darkness had also thrown away her sword, making it rather obvious that she had no intention of fighting against the frog.

Tanya grit her teeth and picked up one of the pieces of armor that rested against the girls hips, holding it as if it were a shield. It worked well enough. She ran, trying to catch up with the woman.

She outpaced her, but Tanya activated a burst of her Reinforcement magic and caught up with her in time. "Darkness, if you want to level up, you'll need to actually kill it, right?"

Finally, they came to a stop before the thing. It seemed to be shying away from Tanya, thanks to the piece of armor she had picked up. Its bulbous eyes were glued to Darkness.

The long, sticky tongue shot out, and Tanya jumped in front of Darkness. Instead of her, however, the tongue got caught on Darkness's armor.

The tongue recoiled, as did the frog. Tanya grinned, and pushed Darkness's sword into her hands. "Now, try and hit it, at least."

Darkness seemed rather put out, but she grasped her sword anyway. The frog seemed much more reluctant, but as Tanya backed away, it seemed captivated by Darkness once more.

Tanya nodded, and cast her gaze about. It wouldn't do for the both of them to be surrounded while they were focused on this one. Nothing seemed to be approaching yet, and Tanya breathed a sigh of relief.

She looked back at Darkness, and-

Even as she groaned at Darkness's obsession, she tried to look on the bright side of things.

At least Darkness was enjoying herself?

She had, in the few moments Tanya had looked away, been swallowed by the frog. Her head was sticking out, and judging by the expression on her face, she was thoroughly enjoying the experience.

"To be eaten by a Giant Toad…" she said. Her tone told Tanya she was ashamed, but her face told her she was getting off to the experience.

She shook her head, took her scepter from her back, and slashed at the thing's gut. Tanya was showered with gore, and Darkness was flung out of its mouth as it died.

Tanya stared at her dispassionately. Darkness seemed to be in pure bliss, writhing on the ground and covered in the frog's digestive fluids. She glanced at Tanya, and she only seemed to fidget more.

Tanya shook her head and walked back to her partner's armor.

Only four more to go. Tanya picked up the woman's belongings, and trudged over to her. After a week of this, Tanya was beginning to lose hope that the woman would try to improve herself by her own initiative.

And Tanya really didn't want to break out military instruction. It might be effective in training people who had signed up for the army, but Tanya didn't think Darkness would stick around if Tanya was too harsh.

As Tanya dropped the woman's armor on her, she remembered that Darkness would probably enjoy anything Tanya could put her through.

She sighed again, and began to scout the surroundings for more frogs. They needed to get four more if they wanted to get it done that day, and she didn't want to be roaming the streets when the festival began tomorrow.

-OxOxO-

Tanya looked down the hollow tube and frowned. It still wasn't straight, and the grooves weren't defined enough. She threw it into a pile of similar looking tubes that were to be melted down later.

Tanya had gotten around to selling the sword of the Reincarnate she'd killed for a tidy sum. It seemed to just be a regular sword without its owner, and Tanya had sold it to the general store under the pretense that she had made it. After collecting that tidy sum, she'd decided to start trying to make her gun.

It was grueling work. She didn't think that any of these tools were used in her time, substituted for more modern, specialized ones. Still, she did the best she could.

That didn't amount to much, unfortunately, but she'd keep trying. She had to.

As it was, the festival was beginning today. Darkness had wanted Tanya to come with her, but Tanya had told her she wouldn't be participating. She had work to do, and this 'Thanksgiving' gave her the perfect excuse to do so.

The front door opened, and Tanya scowled. The Blacksmith had increased her pay and told her that she would man the shop while he was out celebrating. Apparently, there was some sort of open market going on, and he wanted to participate.

She'd just accepted his orders with the expectation that no one would be coming in due to said festival, but it seemed someone wanted something.

She came out of the back and sighed. Darkness, armor in hand, was studying the swords. "Hey. You here to get your armor repaired?" she asked her.

Darkness looked up. "Tanya? What are you doing here?"

She rolled her eyes and turned away. "My job. Come into the back, would you?"

This seemed to surprise the woman, but she followed obediently. "You have a job besides adventuring?"

"Of course," she said as she picked out another piece of steel, "you don't?"

Darkness, a single eyebrow raised, said, "Of course not."

Tanya glanced at the Crusader, but shook her head. There was probably some kind of cultural disconnect. "Anyway. What did you want? Does your armor need to be repaired?" she asked, gesturing to the armor she was carrying.

She nodded. "It's a bit specialized. It's made of very tough metals and-"

Tanya snatched it away before she finished. She didn't need to know.

The Smith skill was… quite baffling. You didn't need extra materials in order to fix it up completely, as long as your were a high enough level. The Blacksmith had even claimed that fixing it after it was broken could make it stronger, if you were as highly leveled as he was.

She sat down and got to work, gently tapping the armor and watching it reform.

It might have taken a blacksmith from either of her previous worlds hours to get this much done, but here, a few taps of a mallet fixed any holes, while a few brushes of sandpaper smoothed out what could take even more time.

It was amazing, and this speed was what had allowed her to get as close as she had to recreating the gun in only a week.

A few minutes later, and everything looked brand new. "Here you go, free of charge."

Darkness looked surprised at that. "No, I couldn't just take away your time like that," she said as she grabbed the bag by her waist.

"Don't bother," Tanya said as she began to heat the sheet of metal, "You're a friend, so it would be foolish to charge you for it."

The woman went quiet. Tanya worked, grunting in exertion. Eventually, covered in sweat and wishing she had more mana to fuel her Reinforcement spells with, she finished shaping the metal. She looked down the tube, and grinned. It seemed great.

She set it against the wall, and looked at Darkness. She tilted her head, eyes narrowed. "What's wrong?"

Darkness seemed to be looking down, oddly serious. "Are you going to the festival at all?"

Tanya sighed. "No, Darkness. I already told you, I'm not going to the festival."

"But what about your family? Wouldn't they want to look at the shops with you?"

Tanya smiled gently. "I'm a foreigner, Darkness. My family isn't here, and even if I was in my homeland…" she trailed off.

"I'm also an orphan."

Darkness seemed floored. "But… you have…"

Tanya looked at her, leaning in towards the Crusader and waiting for more. But no more sound came from the woman, and with a shouted farewell, she left the shop.

How odd. She seemed to think she was from around here.

Shrugging, Tanya looked at her drawings of her gun. It wasn't good, by any means; she wasn't an engineer, and she hadn't ever been to art school. It was, however, enough to remind her of the look and feel of every part of her gun.

Trying to ignore the choir that was passing outside, Tanya continued working, unaware of the forces moving around her.

-OxOxO-

The second day of the festival had arrived, and Tanya was regretting staying up so late last night. She'd finished most of the bulkier pieces of her weapon, which just left the pieces with moving parts and pins.

She'd figured out how to make a proper spring early in the morning, and finally retreated to the stables after locking the place up. Unfortunately…

The shop had been broken into.

The Blacksmith, of course, didn't blame her, and it didn't seem like anything had been taken. All of Tanya's work had been under the tarp in the backroom, right where she'd left it. None of the weapons had been stolen either.

He'd reported it to the police, and Tanya had told the police what she could. A mystery seemed afoot.

That, however, wasn't the most regrettable aspect of this whole affair. The Blacksmith had decided to close up the shop, telling Tanya to enjoy herself. She had gone to the guild instead, searching for work. All of it, however, was gone.

"Well, we've killed off as many of the monsters we can without detrimentally affecting the monster population, so all quests involving monster extermination have been postponed," Luna explained. Tanya sighed, and went back to the board. Other quests weren't worth the effort.

An adventurer, regardless of job, wanted to gain experience. Doing menial labor like helping at construction sites or carrying luggage meant she wouldn't even get the satisfaction of experience for the pitiful pay she earned.

However, the Blacksmith was gone, which meant Tanya had nothing to do.

The doors of the Guild burst in, and Tanya spotted Darkness walk in. She smiled fondly at her disheveled appearance. She had probably run over to the Blacksmith's looking for her.

Tanya sat down and ordered a meal. As long as she had nothing to do, she might as well eat. That increased her experience, at least.

Darkness, after conversing with Luna, sat down across from Tanya. "I can't believe that someone would break into a store like that."

Tanya shot her a confused look, and Darkness looked just as confused. "I mean, why would anyone try and rob someone with so much work to do? Becoming an adventurer is much better than becoming a bandit or criminal."

Tanya made a noise of agreement. She hadn't thought about it, but that did make sense. With people so easily able to become powerful, it was a wonder why they'd want to do something like that.

"Well," Tanya said, pulling out her bag, "I don't have anything to do. I suppose I'll just sit around here."

From her bag, she pulled out a piece of paper and a pencil. She'd been trying to figure out how to make gunpowder. She knew it had to do with sulfur – the smell of the spent cartridges told her that much – and maybe coal.

It had been called 'black powder,' once. Maybe that color came from something that burned?

Darkness leaned on the table. Tanya looked up, and saw a mischievous gleam in her eyes.

"We could…"

Tanya groaned. "Why? Why should I go out and participate in something so inane when I have so much work to do?"

"Well, there are lots of exotic products in the stalls, and everything is priced better since it's a time of thanks to Eris."

Tanya looked up sharply. Exotic products and good prices sounded wonderful. Maybe she'd even find a bit of gunpowder-

Wait. "Darkness, the festival ends with fireworks in two days, right?" she asked hurriedly, leaning into the table. Fireworks meant gunpowder.

Darkness, taken aback, responded easily. "Well, yeah."

Tanya grinned, stuffed her paper back into her bag, and shot up from the table. That settled it. "Then I'll go."

Tanya ran out of the guild, followed by a trailing Darkness. Unfortunately, they ran right into Dust.

"Hey, watch where you're...," the adventurer trailed off, staring openly at Darkness's assets. He shook his head and, with renewed vigor and no small amount of lust, continued. "Yeah, watch where you're going! Can't you see that I'm trying to get into the guild? I guess you two will need to apologize to me, right?"

Darkness, face blushing, opened her mouth. Tanya cut her off; they had a mission. "No. We're trying to get to the festival. I suggest you move."

He opened his mouth, but Tanya grabbed the scepter on her back and raised an eyebrow. "…alright, I'll just go in," he said.

"You aren't coming?" Darkness asked.

He let out a single "Heh," and then he turned to Darkness. "Even if I had the money to spend on that, I'd much rather get drunk in here; getting thrown in the police station is only good if I'm going to go to sleep."

As he stared at Darkness, something caught his eye. "Hey, what's the big idea?" he said, pointing above Tanya's head.

"My scepter?"

"Yeah, why have you got a sword strapped to it, as if it were a spear? And why let that mantle get in the way?" he asked.

"I have a bit of training in that area, thank you. Now, if you'll excuse us…"

With that, they left a contemplative Dust behind and set out for the festival.

-OxOxO-

Tanya peered around her curiously. People seemed to be giving her and Darkness a wide berth, for some reason. The shops they'd picked up food at – apples topped with some sort of sweet fluid for Darkness and something that resembled a kebab for herself – had seemed oddly deferential.

It seemed odd, but Darkness didn't seem to think anything of it, so she let it slide.

Tanya had looked around for the fireworks, but hadn't found anything yet. Maybe they weren't brought out until tomorrow?

Nevertheless, she continued to look. They wound through crowds, passing by stalls, to no avail.

Soon enough, they arrived at a wider street with fewer stalls. "Tanya, get to the side of the road!"

Tanya felt her arm get yanked by the Crusader. She was being dragged down a hall made of stone and red and flags and soldiers and a horrible thing and no no no no-

And she shook her head, opening her eyes and finding herself standing close to one of the buildings and not in the Russy Federation at all. People walked down the middle of the road, looking like something out of a parade in her first world.

People, dressed mostly in purples, yellow, whites, and always with some sort of winged motif, walked down the street. People began to call out.

"Oh, beloved Eris!"

"Thank you, Eris!"

"I pray for good luck, Goddess Eris!"

Mingled horror and confusion overtook Tanya's mind as she glared at those around her. Turning to Darkness, she bit out, "What is this?"

Not letting her eyes stray from the procession, she told Tanya, "It's the traditional Eris Thanksgiving Festival parade, duh. Every year, people dress up like Eris so that she may descend and walk among them."

Tanya scowled at them all, wishing that she could be anywhere other than watching a group of cosplayers. Why did someone have to rob the blacksmith? Why did she have to be here?

Tanya blinked away her anger. Right, she wanted to find the fireworks. As the crowd began to mingle with the parade, Tanya continued to walk on the sides of the road. She needed to figure out where the fireworks were.

Wait, maybe Darkness knew? She'd known that there would be fireworks, right?

"Hey Darkness. Do you know where the fireworks are going to take place?"

Darkness seemed thoughtful. "Around the bonfires, of course. Where else would the bugs be going to?"

The mention of bonfires had brought Tanya up short – why would you keep gunpowder around large, open fires? – but the mention of bugs derailed her thoughts entirely.

"Bugs?"

"Of course, why else" Darkness said, fluffing the stupid wing-thing on her shoulder, "would we shoot Blast and Detonation magic into the sky?"

Oh.

Once tensed shoulders now lax, Tanya began to trudge down the street, hoping to end this embarrassment. They didn't have fireworks; they just had some stupid Mages send magic into the air.

Now thoroughly discouraged, Tanya let Darkness lead them around. Games – throw something at something else to win a prize – were beaten handily, while nearly every stall they visited having nothing of interest on sale.

Darkness was unwilling to buy herself a shield, since she technically had a two-handed sword. That she didn't use it for anything didn't seem to matter to her. A weak glare was all Tanya could manage.

Various stones – that apparently had 'mystical properties' – seemed unappealing for their price, except for the Manatite. It was on sale, and her Observation spells screamed that they were basically mana in physical form, so Tanya had bought a bit.

With this, she'd be able to go for longer without having to take a break when using Smith.

Soon enough, Darkness had brought them to one of the open areas of the city. The city's park was near this one, and a large ring of stone was being constructed while people, most clad in robes and cloaks, loitered.

Darkness suddenly stopped and turned around. "You seemed pretty interested in the fireworks, so I thought we'd look at where one of the bonfires is."

Tanya nodded thankfully, and then began to talk to others there. Most of them were going to either be using Detonation or Blast to combat to bugs, or they were helping to create the large bonfire that would attract them.

Upon inquiring as to whether she could help, she was pointed towards the apparent foreman.

He seemed to have a stout build, and very little care for formality, judging by his bare chest. "Hey," she said as she walked towards him.

He looked down at her curiously and bent over a bit. "Hello there, little girl. What do you want?"

Tanya grit her teeth and didn't let her anger show. Their opinions about her stature didn't matter. She'd become used to others thinking she was a kid. "I want to help with the fireworks."

The man straightened up, laughing heartily. "Now, now, little miss. We can't have you doing that." He cast his eyes about, before they landed on Darkness, who seemed to be eyeing the stones surrounding the growing pile of wood speculatively.

"Why don't you and your sister leave this stuff to adventurers?" he said as he patted her on the head.

Dispassionately, she motioned to the scepter strapped to her back. "I am an adventurer. I can use Detonation. Please let me participate in the fireworks."

For the first time, he saw the scepter – clawed jewel, Seitengewehr, and all – and seemed panicked. "S- Sorry about that. We have more than enough people participating in the official fireworks, so I'm afraid that you'll have to join the rest of the non-hired adventurers in the defense of the city," he said, a hint of fear in his voice.

Tanya scowled. She wanted to earn something, if she was going to have to participate in this stupid festival. She looked at the numerous adventurers in the area, and then looked back at the foreman, idea forming.

"Why not make a competition out of it? The people who kill the most bugs, or who have the biggest Detonations, get paid, while those that can't keep up don't get anything," she suggested, smiling.

He glanced at her speculatively, not as if she were a little girl or a simple adventurer, but as a potential source of money. He bent over, eyes level to hers. "Keep talking."

Tanya grinned. "Additionally, you could force people who want to use Detonation to pay a fee for being able to use it over the city. You are, after all, giving them front row seats to some of the best experience they'll ever get."

The man grinned greedily, and Tanya smiled warmly, cackling internally. It seemed like she'd be able to participate after all.

He was still smiling, gray mustache quivering with excitement. "And if people don't participate because they don't want to pay, that means we'll have to pay fewer people, right?"

Tanya smiled benevolently as if she'd come up with the idea, and the man began to chuckle creepily. "I think I'll give you a cut of the profits for this one, if the idea goes through. Come back here in a few hours, and I'll tell you the results."

With that, the man rushed off. Tanya grinned. Another source of income was always good, and she was sure she'd be able to use more explosive spells than anyone here.

-OxOxO-

Tanya sighed as she sat on the bench. Darkness had wandered off somewhere else, saying something about helping with the preparations or buying something. Tanya had waved her off.

The problem of her gun was beginning to seem impossible. It had been decades since her last modern chemistry class, and she'd never touched the subject during her time in the Empire.

She took out her Registration Card. As always, several notices underneath her current job announced that she could easily change to another – Blacksmith, Archmage, Mage, Monk, Priest, Ranger, and Creator. Tanya sighed.

It was beginning to look like she might have to. Archmage would be best, if she wanted to continue on her quest to get that free wish. It would boost her magical abilities, and she wouldn't exactly need to have those Crafting skills if she wasn't going to be imbuing bullets with mana.

She shook her head. Until she could say that it would be unfeasible to make the stuff, she'd keep trying.

"Hey, Tanya. Fancy meeting you here," came a voice from behind her. Tanya shook her head at the drunkenness.

"What are you doing here, Dust? I thought you told us that you were just going to get drunk in the guild?" she asked, still staring up at the sky, trying to think of a way to make gunpowder.

"Yeah, well…" he trailed off. Tanya turned around.

She promptly shouted as the bench she was sitting on was pierced and jolted backwards, along with her guts.

Dust was not standing behind her. Rather, two people, one wielding the lance stuck in her guts, the other apparently normal, were smirking at her.

Neither looked especially impressive, except for that both had black hair. The one who hadn't tried to stick a large piece of sharpened metal into her guts had golden eyes, while the other had dark eyes.

They both must have been Reincarnates, then.

The one with the golden eyes opened his mouth, and the voice of Dust came tumbling out. "Thank you, Atheist. Your relics will be very helpful in our take down of the Demon King."

The lance was withdrawn from her gut, and Tanya gasped. A rather large hole now penetrated her organs, spilling precious fluids into the cold, cruel world.

The one with the lance high-fived each other. "Man, the pamphlet said she'd be difficult. That was easy!"

Tanya grit her teeth, letting their words wash over her. She needed to get away and get help. Killing the fools would come later.

"Now, we'll do as agreed. I couldn't have snuck up on her without your distraction, and you couldn't have beaten her with just your Shapeshifting," the one with the lance said to the other.

They began to discuss her relics, and what they were going to do. As if she were already dead.

Slumped onto the bench, a wide smile split her face. They were fools.

A mote of mana was born. Laboriously, it traveled through her soul, attempting to reach her head. Soon, it was there. Tanya lifted an arm.

Neither of them noticed. Tanya would have laughed maniacally, if she wasn't scared a lung had been punctured.

She pressed down on her head, and the mote flew towards the circlet resting on her head.

Tanya's grin only grew wider as she began to feel revitalized. She knew it was just the Pain-Reducing Reinforcement spell she'd doped herself with, but it was ffffffffiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnneeeeeee.

The Active Barrier she'd placed in her guts to stop the internal bleeding and the Flight spell, whose force was usually applied to her entire body, pressed down on her wound, staunching the flow of blood.

Both seemed to be making noise.

"Is that a halo?"

Sounds of surprise.

"I thought she didn't have that circlet?"

Bubbly, girlish laughter escaped her throat as she began to rise from the ground, propelled by yet more Flight spells. Who cared about the content of their words? They'd almost killed her.

Getting healed would come after a bit of revenge!

The scepter on her back floated into her hands elegantly, and a wall of blue sprung into life, thrumming with mana. She opened her mouth, tempted to gloat. Her eyes narrowed as they began to draw their weapons.

She didn't have time for that. She didn't have the physical capability to contend with them and keep herself together.

Barely grasping her staff – even holding onto something took effort – she leveled the worst glare she could at them. Reds and yellows poured from the top of her scepter, hurling towards them and exploding on contact with whatever they hit.

Both managed to dodge. She glared madly at her staff. She needed her gun. Bullets traveled faster than they could react. They'd be dead if she had that.

It seemed, from their attire, that both of them had been here much longer than the other one who'd tried to kill her.

It made little difference.

Eight years of fighting in a modern war outpaced any experience they could have had during the life of a student and their weeks playing at being a hero.

Both managed to dodge a few more spells, and Tanya growled. She didn't have the time for this. Biting her lip hard enough to draw blood, a plan sprung to mind.

She needed to kill the weak link.

Her gaze shifted to the weaker of the two. The one with golden eyes. The one who'd taken the Shapeshifting ability.

An angered scream tore out of her throat, giving both of them pause. The anguished expression on her face shifted rapidly into one of gloating pride, and an Artillery Shot flew from her staff.

Furious eyes boring into her own, he managed to dodge, but that was fine. It hadn't been him she was aiming for.

The bench behind him exploded, sending pieces of metal and wood in all directions. Including into his body.

He was silenced. She turned to her other opponents, only to see he was screaming the name of the one who'd died. She laughed a bit.

A furious glare was sent her way. "How dare you laugh!? I am Hideyo Yamamoto, and armed with the Bulwark Breaker, I'll avenge my friend!"

Tanya laughed harder. He was monologuing in the middle of a battle. What an idiot!

She giggled. Not that their efforts would make a difference. She would kill them anyway.

He began to run at her, screaming, and she let it happen. He couldn't do anything, not with the mana she was fueling into her practically opaque active barrier.

The tip of the ornamental thing touched her shield, and Tanya screamed, falling to the ground and writhing in pain. Her mana left her shield, flooded through her body into the spell, only to be consumed in the dissolving shield.

Faster and faster, mana left her body. In the few glimpses she caught of the man's face, in between the wracking pain, he seemed rather stoic. He wasn't even pushing the ridiculous thing into her shield; it was just unravelling it.

She cut off the mana flow out of her body. The shields, the pressure on her wound, the mana in her circlet. All of it stopped. The pain wasn't back yet, but she didn't think that would last long.

She gasped. She… she had to pray, to give in to Being X. It was her only option-

He leaned down and snatched her visible Type 95, breaking the metal cord tying it around her neck. He tossed it behind him and continued to glare.

She began to take in deep, gulping breaths. If she gave in, acknowledge him as her god, then she could win, even without the-

NO! Never, she'd never, never give in! Being X was lying! He'd never help her, even if she did give in! He…

He'd already proved that! He…

She calmed down as she realized that…

This was it. She had almost no mana left, and with its departure, she had no strength. She was done. It was even getting hard to think.

Heaping gulps of air entered her diminutive body, Tanya took a look at the person standing over her. A scowl marked his face.

"Well?" she asked. Logic dictated he should kill her. She knew humans didn't always work on pure logic, but it was obvious what he should do.

She wondered if she'd get to see Viktoriya before she was cast into whatever punishment Being X had planned for her.

"I was sent here to take out you and the Demon King. I will do that. I just want to know. Why did you do it?" he said.

Tanya didn't have to fight to keep the smile from her face. She was too tired to smile.

He was letting her talk? She took another few gulps of air.

"Do what?" she gasped.

She could guess what he meant. She just wanted time. Every second was another speck of mana she might get.

"'Do What?' What do you think! Why did you oppose the Gods! How could you possibly think they're not holy, after everything you've seen?" he shouted.

Another few gulps. What could she do? She was out of options, without any mana…

Wait. She'd bought that piece of Manatite, right? It was in her bag.

"Look at my biography, if you're so interested," she spat. She needed to play into his expectations of a defeated villain on the verge of death. She inched her hand towards the bag at her waist.

"How did you…" he trailed off. He shook his head. "I've read that a few dozen times already, thanks. I want to know from the source."

Tanya kept breathing. It was beginning to grow steadier. Tanya just hoped that it wasn't a sign of her dying. The effects of the Pain-Reduction Reinforcement spell could last a long while, so she wasn't exactly sure how much pain she should be feeling.

"At first, it was just the principal of the thing. Why would some grand deity descend and stop time on the part of one atheist? But…" she trailed off, and he leaned towards her, resting his weight on his lance.

"Then, it became a bit more personal. Their meddling caused nations to go to war; caused millions of people to hurl themselves towards their 'enemies.' Oh, I don't doubt that the countries of my last life would have gone to war eventually on their own; but too many things pointed to 'divine' interference."

Taking long gasps of breath between each sentence, it seemed the fool was actually affected by her speech.

"The death of my comrades was just icing on the cake. They died with me, and this whole excursion has been a sort of last 'hurrah' for me. I…"

She sniffled pathetically, and his gaze softened. Tanya almost grinned.

Then it hardened again. "Then I'm sure you can understand how I feel about how you murdered my friend."

Tanya let out a gasping chuckle, moving her hands towards her abdomen, hoping he wouldn't notice her moving her hands towards her bag. "You tried to murder me. That I lasted this long was amazing. Besides…"

She grinned viciously at him. "How do you think you'll explain this to the authorities? I've been here longer, and I have friends. You two probably broke into the shop last night, too. Murder, breaking and entering; I will have my revenge. Hopefully, you'll end up behind bars for a nice, long while, if you aren't executed."

He glanced around worriedly, panic overcoming his face, and Tanya slipped a hand into her bag. Frantically, she searched for the thing. Where was it?

He turned back to her, and she relaxed her posture. Even the slightest suspicion that she might be able to win might send a lance through her head.

He sighed, and leaned on his lance again. "Honestly, I don't even want your stupid relics anymore. You killed my friend, and they'll be tainted."

Tanya shrugged. Her hand had been moving around silently, searching for the Manatite. It still hadn't made its way into her hand.

"Stop right there, criminal scum! How dare you attack an upstanding adventurer! You'll have to face me and torture me in order for me to stay silent."

Darkness burst into the area from behind a tree in the direction of one of the entrances of the park, her breathing labored and her face red.

He turned around, still resting on his lance, staring at the beauty incredulously. Tanya took that as her cue.

With what remained of her strength, she lunged towards her scepter and swung in a wide arc. It slammed into the man's lance.

He crashed to the ground cursing, unprepared to have his weight swept from under him.

Tanya couldn't support herself. Lying on her back, she shakily pointed the front of her scepter at him and shot the weakest Explosive Vaporization she could at him. It didn't even wound him.

Much.

A chunk of his arm had been blown off, and the man began to scream, but Tanya ignored it. Tanya just grunted. Through it all, Darkness had watched, sword in hand, unprepared.

"What are you waiting for? He tried to kill me!" she shouted, dumbfounded.

Darkness shook her head and raised her sword towards the screaming man.

She hesitated.

Tanya snarled, pressed the mana she had accumulated into her circlet, and shot another three Explosive Vaporization spells at him.

The rest of his body was blown apart, and his blood and guts were scattered all over the area.

Totally spent, Tanya collapsed. She'd used too much, too fast.

Covered in his remains, Darkness rushed over. "Tanya? Tanya, are you okay?"

Tanya gave her a shaky smile, and she managed to register Darkness's shout for help as she passed out.