Tale of the Outcast Warrior: Catgirls, Tails, and a Monster.

DAYS UNTIL WAVE: 68

When he came to, he found himself in a soft feather bed wrapped in a warm, thick blanket. As he went to sit up, he heard a protesting moan from under the covers, and in that moment he realized two things almost instantly: he was buckass naked, and two there was a distinct feminine presence clinging to his arm beneath the sheets. Almost scared of what he might find, he lifted the blanket to see who he was sleeping with; He fully expected to find kaori clinging to his arm, but what he DIDN'T expect to find was Kaori, the little catgirl child, AND the catgirl whose tail he reattached curled against him...and with the exception of kaori, they were NAKED!!! In other words he was buckass naked in a bed off three girls, two of whom were also naked, and one of those bare beauties looked like she was ten!!! Tyler's mind was effectively shot to hell at this development, but as he was just reaching a decision on how to handle this new mess, the door opened and the elderly mancat crept in, carrying a tray with a bowl of water and a towel. He froze when he saw Tyler had awakened, but nearly burst out laughing at the look of helplessness on the young man's face as he saw his bedmates. The elder walked over and sat beside the bed, placing the tray on a nearby night stand. he turned to face the man who had saved both his kin's pride and her tail. Tyler finally rediscovered the power of speech,

"UMMM, could you help me with this?"

gesturing to the still asleep girls, The elder chuckled quietly, amazed at this youngster, This young man didn't flinch at the slightest when it came to putting his life on the line for my daughter, or when he went and healed her tail, but strip him naked and throw him in bed with three girls and he becomes helpless? heh now I've seen everything. But as the wise elder scanned the youngster's gaze he saw it flicking from the smallest of the girls, his grandniece, to kaori, asleep on his left, and back again. Awww so THAT'S it "Relax boy, that kitten's bout twice your age so don't worry bout upsetting the lady,"

Tyler looked at the elder in shock,

"that's right, little Miyuki there, is at least sixty in human years, and I'm at least two hundred and fifty myself, though to be honest I stopped counting long ago. You humans always mistake our people's ages, what you see as an adult we see as a mere child, and since you seem to get hung up on silly little ideals like how age directly correlates to appearance and maturity. heh nuthin but fluff."

Tyler relaxed slightly at the knowledge the young looking girl was far older then him, although he was still conscious both her and the other naked girl's every move. He had to fight a war against his lower half which seemed to have grown a mind of it's own. NO down boy!! he pushed up against the board of the bed trying to put distance between him and the naked girls before Kaori woke up and saw the highly misleading sight. Unfortunately, as his arm moved from her grip she sat bolt upright, wide awake as if someone had tazed her. Tyler froze. kaori looked like she at been up all night, there were large bags under her eyes, which seemed to have lost some of their usual brilliance, and her once sleek blonde hair was an absolute mess, highly unusual for her as she was immensely proud of her mane took great care of it, especially so after Tyler had called it pretty. Seeing her so disheveled brought a rush of concern that something had happened to her while he was out cold.

"Hey kaori, are you okay? You look like you had a fight with someone or something."

His voice brought her back to her senses, as she had been staring at him like a gaping idiot. She squealed in relief and pounced on her lifelong friend, seemingly oblivious to the fact he was buckass nude.

"Tyler your awake!! You're finally awake!!! thank goodness!! I was so worried."

She was verging on tears, so relieved that her only true companion was alive and well. Tyler, after being briefly caught off guard by her attack, wrapped her slender frame in his arms,

"Hey, calm down Barbie, I'm not going anywhere. Okay? Seriously, did you really think I'd go down that easily? shh shhh it's okay, I'm back in action,"

he rubbed her back as she sobbed into his shoulder, and while he did so, the other two girls, Miyuki the little catgirl and the older one he still didn't know the name of, sat up rubbing their eyes woken by Kaori's noise. The young-looking Miyuki smiled happily when she saw Tyler awake and hugging the still weeping kaori,

"Thank you for healing my sister, mister, yer my Hero!"

her voice a cheerful little squeak. She yawned and climbed off the bed, completely unconcerned by her nakedness, and walked over to her granduncle and climbed into his lap, watching the very teary reunion. Tyler was still stroking Kaori's back, her crying turning to sniffles as she got control of herself, and looked at the girl who had as of yet not spoken, he looked to see her tail swaying back and forth lazily,

"Is your tail okay?"

he asked the still silent girl. she had yet to look him in the eye, yet when she did he noticed a strange warm glow in their emerald depths, and red coloring on her cheeks. Her tail started moving more rapidly, like a cat that's been embarrassed by something, and her ears where tipped backward,

"It feels fine, now, actually better then fine it's as if I have a brand new one...here look"

she then turned around and stuck her tail straight out for his inspection. kaori, having heard the exchange, and knowing how hard he had worked to get it right moved off to his side to give him the proper access to the offered extremity. Tyler laid the tail across his lap, eliciting a low moan from the girl it was attached to, he instantly froze,

"Are you okay? It doesn't hurt does it? Please let me know if it does."

The girl turned to look over her shoulder at the man who had risked his life to help her, a flush in both cheeks breathing heavy,

"It doesn't hurt, it's just a Nekoplesian's tail is both their most treasured possession and their most sensitive area, if you take my meaning, sir"

Tyler gulped as he did indeed take her meaning, nevertheless he needed to know if he had truly saved her or just doomed her to even more pain down the line.

"I understand, and I'm sorry for this, but I need to thoroughly examine you tail for any bad connections or any other complications. I try to be as quick and gentle as I can, so please hang on. if you need to rest let me know."

He was trying to spare her more indecency, and she respected the man for that,

"I should be fine, but thank you, and my names Malico, i forgot we were never properly introduced. And please be as meticulous as you need to be, my tail is your tail now after all."

She looked away as Tyler went red in the face after hearing that bombshell, Her tail is my tail? If that means what i think it does, Kaori is going to KILL me, and probably Malico too, for that matter! but can't worry bout that now, focus on the task in hand- NO!!! AT hand not In hand....I'm pretty fucked aren't I? Nevertheless he went on his inch by inch inspection of the catgirl's tail, seeking any and all imperfections from the Divine Resurgence. he used his mana glow as a sort of abnormality finder, searching the regrown sections of her tail, all the while vainly seeking to ignore the moans and groans of the girl whose tail he was so closely inspecting. He was also aware of kaori, whose dagger-laden glare intensified with every lewd sound the poor Malico made during the exam. Thank the gods that looks alone CAN'T kill someone as I would be a corpse already! After twenty gut wrenching minutes, filled with both death glares and the lewd moans of a catgirl being pleasured, Tyler finished his inspection of the newly regrown tail segment. He sat back up with a long breath of relief, he had not found one problem or potential problem in his work. Malico turned to face him with a look of nervousness on her cute face, "Well, did you find any problems?" She had a mixture of hope and despair, as if her life depended on the answer, which in this case it kinda did. Tyler smiled, "I found nothing wrong with it, and I didn't find anything that COULD go wrong in the future, in other words it was a complete success! congrats!" in truth, her tail was fine, the main difference form before was she now an extra four inches of tail to show off, and the new section was completely indistinguishable from the rest of her pretty tail. Malico let loose a massive smile and sigh of relief. But before she could pounce on him herself, he spoke up again, "yes now thats settled, could someone please explain two things to me?"

kaori and Malico both said yes in unison, tyler looked from one to the other,

"Okay, one how long have i been out for and what happened in that time, and TWO, why the hell am I buckass naked?"

Malico and kaori both tripped over themselves and eachother in their attempts to answer his questions,

"Well you see tyler-"

"you were covered in bloo-"

"Hey shut up i answered first!"

"don't be greedy I can answer just fine!"

"I'm gonna answer him!"

"No me"

within moments the two girls were inches from each others faces, teeth bared growling at one another. Tyler just sighed, getting both jealous girls attention,

"Okay that was my fault, Hey can You explain everything to me please?"

He had turned to the Elderly catman, who had remained silent to this point just silently laughing at the trio.

"Certainly young one, and I forgot as well to introduce myself, but my names Houndra. Let's see you were unresponsive for about three weeks. During which, the tavern has been cleared of the carnage, and the survivor of the bastard trio branded and banished from the village. Word of your feet of magical prowess has spread like wildfire through the villagers, with many asking that when you wake to heal this and that, my family and I explaining that we'd ask but, well as you can probably guess, you've become something of the village hero for defending our little Malico and going as far to save her tail. This is the only tavern in town and as such Malico is extremely beloved by everyone in town, so since you went to such extreme lengths to help her, you have become just as loved. Other then that, there's not much to tell, the dead's bodies were buried in a potter's field, though the mage's licenses were saved for you by our undertaker, here they are."

Houndra handed Tyler a small packet of Licenses, He placed then beside him for future inspection, continued listen to the older catman's report,

"Let's see what else, ohh I know, a group of knights from Term passed through here yesterday morn, apparently bound for the forests of Dragul, on the orders of the king to aid with the elimination of a rogue wyvern clan. other then that that's all the news from your nap. Though as to why you were naked, I'd say it's cause your clothes were drenched in blood, and since we run a respectable business, we couldn't in good conscience put you in our finest bed like that, so i guess the girls took some liberties while you were out."

Tyler looked at both kaori, and Malico, clearly wondering where those Liberties had began and ended. Both women blatantly looked in any other direction then in his, Malico even started whistling. The sight was too much for Tyler to take straight-faced and he just burst out laughing, much to kaori and Malico's consternation,

"What now?"

"Yeah what's so funny?"

Tyler took a moment to recover, and when he did there were clear tears running down his face, "HAHAHA....oh my god, you couldn't BE more suspicious, and did you seriously start whistling Malico? Jesus, I thought people only did that as a bullshit movie trope. And you kaori, what was so intriguing about that wall? Haha, look if you did anything, well I'm sure whatever you did wasn't too bad."

Both kaori turned and looked at him, a little shocked at his words,

"how do you know what we did, Not that we did anything to begin with or anything"

Tyler smiled,

"because if you did do something when i was powerless, I'd hope you would've considered what I would do to you if the positions were reversed, and there's a distinct possibility you will be in that position so i'm sure you wouldn't want a dirty precedent hanging over your heads, right?"

Tyler had thought he'd won, but both kaori and Malico shared a knowing glance, before Kaori spoke, this time in an extemely teasing voice,

"Well Tyler we don't have to worry about what you would do."

Tyler looked at the smug blonde,

"Oh? and what makes you so damn sure?"

Malico answered for her in the same type of voice,

"Because we both know there's no way you'd have the balls to try something like that, that's why!"

Both girls just lost it after that, laughing so hard they were crying. Tyler was speechless, even Houndra was chortling at the young mans plight. Tyler finally sighed in defeat, and went to dress, as he was tired of being naked. as he did so, he heard the laughter stop with a horrified gasp. Tyler pulled his pants up before turning to see both Malico and Houndra staring with a mixture of pure pity and shock, Tyler just stood there, shirtless and confused,

"Hey what's wrong? Am I wounded?"

Houndra spoke first, his normally raspy voice thick with pity,

"My boy what Happened to you?"

Tyler was clearly confused, so Malico pointed at his chest, he looked down still confused.

"OH"

His scars. Both catpeople had finally noticed his scars. Tyler shrugged, dismissing the roadmap of thin lines and hardened flesh that came form healed wounds,

"My family wasn't as nice as yours is, that's all"

Malico got up and hugged him, her soft skin pressing into his body, and then he noticed something else about her, something he was amazed he had missed till that exact moment. Malico was stacked, her breasts pressing into him like a pair of harder, nicer water balloons. He noticed, and kaori noticed that he noticed, and treated him to another angry glare. Tyler sighed, he just couldn't win could he? but the more pressing issue was the catgirl holding him like a life ring at sea,

"Hey Malico, it's not that big a deal, is it?"

She stepped back and looked him in the eye, He could see she felt so bad for whet he'd endured at the hands of his monstrous family. He smiled,

"Don't worry they don't hurt any. You don't need to feel bad either, I like to think they kinda make me look like a badass, wouldn't you agree?"

Malico was both impressed at the strength of his soul, and the true force of his will. Instead of letting him know, she instead reverted to her teasing,

"Badass? you look like you got a BAD ASSkicking!"

Her voice full of laughter and cheer, but her eyes were still sad. Houndra was more reserved in his respect for the tortured youngster, I guess the will and mind set to cast magic like Divine Resurgence flawlessly like that doesn't come from nowhere right?

Tyler was finally allowed to finish dressing, as he sheathed Oblivion across his back, he let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. The others had left him to dress in peace, Kaori went to bathe and

"put herself back together"

as she put it, Houndra went to start making some food for the famished Warrior, and Malico went to get dressed herself. she had been the last to leave, and before she had closed the door she had turned around and given Tyler a last good look at her massive melons, even adding a small shake to emphasize their fullness. He'd smiled appreciatively and Malico had left closing the door behind her as she went. Damn, she's hot, I'm gonna miss her and her cans when we leave, though what she said about her tail being my tail has me worried a little, I hope she doesn't want to come with us, I don't think I would survive kaori if she did! Knowing how jealous she can get....wait why should she get jealous? We're not TOGETHER together...are we?" Tyler dismissed the thought as absurd, after all they were just friends. after dressing, he picked up the small packet of spell Licenses taken from the mage he'd killed and flipped through it. He had a few spells already such as: Protective Warning, Divine Care, Holy Relief, Azure Flash{which was a quick speed enhancement, cost ten mana, and allowed him to move as fast as a lightening along a straight-line. it was what had enabled him to close with the last man he'd killed so quickly} and that was pretty much it as far as his magical arsenal. whereas kaori had: Hellfire Kiss, Inferno, Flaming blade{Coats a weapon in flame and can be used for about ten strikes or applied to arrows,} Nature's friend{Green Path magic, attracts non-aggressive animals to the caster, useful for hunting} and Red Divider{Red Path, follows an attack with an equally strong blade or arrow of fire, burns for about ten seconds after impact.} As it was they were pretty lacking in magical options, Tyler having mainly defensive and healing magic, and kaori having mainly offensive spells. We could both stand to learn some new tricks And as Tyler examined the Licenses, he noticed a blinking icon in the corner of his vision, which when he focused his attention to it, brought up the Warrior's HUD. He'd more or less forgotten it was there, As he searched for the reason it was blinking he realized he'd leveled up more then ten levels, bringing his total level to about twenty, and he had over a hundred and fifty status point to distribute. as he looked at the numbers and figured he do this with kaori there so he could better coordinate their abilities. So he closed the menu and left the room to go find his beautiful blonde companion. He had never been in this part of the tavern before, so he took the time to explore a little. The room he'd woken up in being at the far end of a hallway illuminated by both a mana lantern and skylights, there were only a few doors on the right side of the hallway, clearly indicating a respect for privacy between rooms. Tyler walked down the wooden hallway, enjoying the peace after the bloody fight and subsequent magic ordeal he'd endured to save a catgirl's tail, when he heard the sound of singing coming from one of the rooms further down the hall. The voice was rising and falling in a beautifully haunting melody, so curious as he was he investigated. He couldn't make out the words, but he didn't need to, to enjoy the tune, as he got closer to the mysterious singer, he thought he recognized it from somewhere, but he couldn't place it. It stopped as he neared the door it seemed to come from, leaving a sad emptiness in it's place. Tyler was left with figuring if it was worth pursuing or not. In the end he shrugged and went to leave his spot outside the door, but as he turned to leave, the door opened and Malico stepped out of the room. His breath caught in his throat at the figure she cut. She had chosen to dress in a thin black leather shoulderless tunic, which served to help support her perfect globes, a pair of Denim,{yes DENIUM} cutoff shorts, showing off her long, strong legs, and a pair of low-cut shoes that seemed made for running. She had also let her hair free, letting the thick chocolate tresses flow over her shoulders. Her fair skin gave off a slight sheen in the light from a nearby window. Her thick brown and white tail sticking out from over the waist band of her shorts, and her ears showing from the river of brown strands on her head. Malico smiled sweetly, her pure white teeth flashing from her lips,

"Well, well what a surprise, did you come to sneak a peek at me getting dressed? and here I thought you were a good boy too,"

Her voice a teasing purr, Tyler finally broke free from the sexy catgirl's spell,

"Sadly no, I didn't come here to creep on you, I was wondering who was doing that gorgeous singing earlier is all."

Malico seemed rather happy at this pronouncement,

"Why that was my voice you were hearing. Was it really that good?"

Tyler was shocked she would ask such a thing,

"Hey you see these goosebumps? They're from your voice, it sent a frigging shiver done my spine! you have a gift Malico, and it's awesome!"

She blushed deep crimson at his praise, and her tail swung back and forth happily as she looked at her feet in embarrassment,

"aww you liked it that much? thank you! I don't usually sing with other people in the building, or for anyone other then my family so it means a lot to me. By the way what are you doing in this part of the Tavern? Are you lost?"

Tyler smiled as he explained,

"Oh, well there's not much else up here but a few more rooms and our family living quarters, the mainstay of the place is the dining hall and kitchen. Plus the few rooms we have here and that's basically the whole place."

Tyler looked at her sexy outfit thoughtfully as she spoke,

"hey what's with the getup? You going somewhere?"

She instantly became more nervous, avoiding his question entirely,

"H-hey, i think Houndra's food is ready, What's say we get fed already? C'mon!"

She grabbed his wrist and practically dragged him down the hall, ignoring both his protests and questions as she did so. Either of them noticed that the door next to the one Malico had come from had opened a tiny crack. Kaori's eyes and ears had caught the entire exchange between Tyler and Malico. She had just gotten out of the bath and was dressing in the spare room, when she had heard both the beautiful melody from the next room, and the approaching sound of Tyler's distinct bootsteps{She had gotten stalkerishly good at sensing his presence} which stopped around the time the song also ended. So with curiosity getting the best of her, she opened the door a crack and saw Tyler standing outside Malico's door with a decidedly conflicted look on his face, as if debating on either to knock and see who the singer was or just leave it. kaori was thrilled to see him just leave it and turn to go, as she knew it was Malico singing and she didn't need any further competition, Competition? I'm starting to scare myself on just how clingy I've become, even him just GLANCING at another girl is enough to piss me off now!! since when did I become so friggin petty? I'm starting to act like those insecure shrews who search through their boyfriends phones for Christ's sake!! And another thing, why do I feel so threatened by that cat? It's as if Tyler's my boyfriend and I'm scared she'll steal him! Kaori had never been one to doubt herself, or that she was good-looking, but something about the extreme lengths Tyler had gone to for Malico didn't sit right with the blonde. am I really jealous he went to such extremes for her? Is that it? The troubled blonde didn't have an answer for that one, but she didn't have time to reflect further as the door to Malico's room opened and she stepped out into the hall. Tyler had froze caught creeping outside her door, kaori listened to Malico tease him in her cat's purr of a voice and listened to Tyler surprisingly reasonable excuse for sneaking around outside women's rooms. Kaori was always surprised at Tyler's ability to make up a believable story on the fly like that, but her good mood ended when she caught him ogling the catgirl's admittedly sexy outfit, and his heartfelt praise for her also admittedly beautiful singing irked her to no end. Why doesn't he praise ME like that? She thought darkly, truth was he DID praise her, not often but he did. It was one of the things she had first liked about the boy, was how he didn't shower her with words and gifts like the others at their old school. And it made the few times he did give her a complement seem all the more meaningful. But here he was gushing over a girl he just met the previous night, with a light in his eyes kaori didn't remember seeing there previously, like a fanboy meeting his idol. Kaori's thoughts were a dark thundercloud as she was the conclusion of their hallway meeting, with Malico grabbing his wrist and leading dragging down the hallway. After they'd gone Kaori had finished dressing, and as she replaced the sheathed katana Dawn on her hip, she found herself wishing they had simply left the sweet catgirl to her fate.

Tyler and Malico had reached the dining hall, although Tyler's poor shoulder felt wrenched out of it's socket. Malico had Tyler sit at a table in clear view of the kitchen counter, where he could see everything from the counter to the front door. She sat opposite him, resting her head in her hands with a smile on her face, as if their was nothing better for her to look at then his face. Tyler didn't know where to look, as every time he tried to meet her cheerful gaze, his eyes were inevitably drawn downward to the marvelous cans that were squeezed against the tabletop. ohh damn that sexy seductive cat! she knows EXACTLY what she's doing there, so Tyler's answer was to sit sideways on the bench and lean against the wall. He caught a disappointed sigh from the catgirl, but didn't let it get to him as he looked for kaori around the dining hall. When he didn't see her he figured she was still getting dressed. He was about to reopen the Warrior's HUD when little Miyuki, Malico's smaller, cuter sister came sprinting over followed by who he could only assume was her brother and jumped into his lap. Unlike earlier, the small girl was wearing an adorable little Waitress outfit complete with bonnet. The bonnet had been cut so her fuzzy little ears could poke through, and her downy little tail also poked through an opening in the dress. Tyler was caught unprepared for her pounce, and before he could protest, she had settled onto his lap and leaned back against his chest. She looked up him with a happy smile, and he just sighed as he rubbed her head, he didn't have the heart to make her get off him. The boycat was more reserved, sitting beside the man on the bench itself, before introducing himself in a respectful manner,

"good morning sir, pleased to meet you, My name is Colken, I am sorry for my sister there."

Colken spoke with a level tone, Tyler nodded at the polite young mancat,

"It's a pleasure to meet you as well, Colken, nice to finally put a name to the face. and don't mind you sister here, I certainly don't."

Colken seemed rather tense, and Tyler wondered at it as he noticed the young catman's tail was stiff. A common sign something was bothering cats from his old world. Before Tyler could question the youngster he caught sight of kaori coming down the stairs. He smiled at the sight of his companion, "Hey! Kaori! Over here!"

She looked over and seemed to frown when she saw Malico, but nevertheless came to sit at the table with Tyler and the cats,

"Morning Tyler, you certainly seem to have your hands full over there,"

Her voice had a layer of ice in it that made tyler raise an eyebrow.

"ahh, morning to you too, kaori."

He was confused by her greeting, as they had already exchange greetings when he came to, however he let it go as breakfast was placed in front of them by the adult catman,

"Here you go, Bacon, eggs, coffeecake, sausage, and fresh coffee, all on the house as thanks for saving my sister. By the way my names Drock, it's pleasure to properly meet you sir."

Tyler returned the greeting remembering the mancat's own efforts during the spell,

"A pleasure Drock, and thanks for your help back there, I really appreciate your helping kaori with that whole ordeal."

Kaori jerked a bit hearing him drop her name like that, almost like an afterthought. Drock smiled, and thanked him again before retreating back to the kitchen, and little Colken followed him. As Tyler, Malico, and kaori broke their fast together, with Tyler feeding bits and pieces to Miyuki still in his lap, He handed the small packet of Licenses to kaori,

"here, have you flipped through here yet?"

he asked in his usual flat strategizing tone, Kaori took the packet and flipped through it,

"No But I guess I should if you think i should."

Her voice had an edge to it that hadn't been there previously, Tyler's eyes narrowed, but he continued with his line of thought regardless,

"Well, anyway, have you checked your HUD recently? I have a hundred and fifty points to assign and I need to know where you put yours."

She kept looking at the Licenses as she responded,

"And why would you need to know something like that for?"

The edge in her voice had become razor sharp, at it's Sound Tyler had had enough, He gently picked up Little Miyuki who whined a little at being removed from her perch, but stopped when Tyler gave her a head pat. He then looked at Kaori flipping through he licenses, not really even looking at them as she flipped.

"Kaori could I get a word with you in private?"

with a disinterested sight she got up from the table,

"If i must."

Tyler led the sullen girl back upstairs to the room he'd woken up in. Malico and Miyuki looked at each other concerned as the pair left the hall. Upstairs tyler had kaori enter first, and as soon as he closed the door, he pounced on the unsuspecting blonde, tackiling her to the floor, Oblivion resting on her throat. "Okay you imposter, where is Kaori? If you don't to spend the next month screaming you'll talk now!" His voice was filled with an evil the startled blonde had never heard there before, and his eyes were colder then ice, and darker then the bottom of the sea. For the second time in their time together, Kaori was scared of the man who called himself Monster, and finally understood why he called himself that. He spoke again, this time with even more ice in his voice, if that were possible,

"I will only ask one more time, if you don't answer the knife comes out, now where is SHE?"

Kaori found her voice at last,

"It's me! Tyler, I'm kaori!! get off me!"

he growled,

"Bullshit, your an imposter, and a piss poor one at that, here's a tip if your gonna impersonate someone, be sure to get their demeanor right. Kaori is a sweet, kind, cheerful girl, not whatever sullen creature you are! Plus she would never leave her room like that!"

Now confused as well as scared she snapped at the very angry man,

"What the hell do you mean like that? You sonuvabitch! You picked this outfit for me personally! Are you saying I'm ugly or something? Fuck you!"

She was yelling now, incensed by the sheer NERVE of this asshole, first he shower some new girl with attention, then he pounces on her and, then as if just to add insult to injury, insults the outfit HE picked? She WAS not having it. She ranted for a few more minutes before she realized he was looking extremely confused. He got off the irate blonde, removing Oblivion from her neck and lifted the girl to her feet. "What the hell, I was certain you were an imposter, I mean you were being very bitchy this morning." The girl dusted herself off, still angry with the man,

"So you first option was to TACKLE me and threaten torture?"

His gaze was firm when he replied,

"Of course, that combined with the force of evil in both my soul and my gaze should be more then enough to at shake most anyone's will. And I resorted to such drastic measures because I'd thought for sure you had been captured and replaced, if that had happened, I would need to respond with all my strength and speed to rescue you. I only figured it out when you went on that tirade. Because only you would tell a man holding you to the floor with a sword to your neck to go fuck himself so passionately like that."

She crossed her arms and looked away, though inside she was thrilled he would go so far for her,

"Well, you didn't have to ATTACK me like that,"

He rubbed head sheepishly,

"Probably, But at the moment I was too scared and far too worried that something had happened when i wasn't there to protect you that I guess i went overboard a little. I'm sorry."

She peeked at him with one eye,

"Well as it was for my sake I guess I could forgive you. But you ARE going to owe me for this, got it?"

He smiled,

"Understood."

with it settled he went and sat on the bed and patted the spot next to him, still a little irritated, she went and sat down on the other end of the bed. Tyler sighed,

"Kaori what's wrong? You weren't yourself at breakfest"

She huffed,

"Why do you wanna know?"

He hung his head,

"I swore to myself i would never do this to you, but I guess I have to,"

he whispered so low Kaori nearly missed it, but his next response caught her off guard,

"Hey Kaori, can I look into your eyes for a moment?"

She squeaked at the unusual request, but agreed to the strange ask. He had her sit directly across from him on the bed facing him, and then he closed his eyes, drew in a long breath, let it out as he opened his eyes, and peered directly into her eyes, no her very soul. She gasped at what he was doing, He's going to do that reading thing on me! she knew there was no hiding from his sight when he did this, and the results from his mental probe were terrifyingly accurate, as if he read your very soul like a damn page on a book. He had explained how it worked once, basically what he did was take everything he knew about a person's personality, the habits he knew of, quirks no matter how small, likes, dislikes, tastes in everything from food to literature, even a person's clothing choices, and built a mental image of that person in his mind, which, once ready, would tell him basically anything about that person he wanted to know. Armed with that information, he could completely destroy that person at will, using doubts, insecurities never known to anyone else, hopes to hang them from. He once said he had once caused someone to commit suicide after one such analysis. He could even predict future behavior with terrifying accuracy. Now he was using that power on her, something she hoped he would never do. She now had no choice but to look into his eyes now, for if she looked away or try to hide, it would only serve to increase his data. She felt like she was about to cry at the implications of his search, but as she continued to gaze into his eyes, she saw a very similar look in his gaze as if he was too on the verge of tears for using his skill to invade her privacy like this. seeing that in his eyes, she felt immediately worse when she realized what his words had meant, "I swore I would never do this to you, but I guess I have no choice" She felt bad for driving him to resort to the skill, as it was only her own insecurities and jealousy that were the source of their current problems. She closed her eyes in shame, I'm just a jealous, insecure girl who couldn't handle the thought of him making another friend with a girl. As she hung her head she heard him snicker, shocked she looked up to see him smiling with relief,

"Oh, your just jealous? Phew, I thought it was something MUCH worse!"

She was speechless. Tyler wiped his tears from his eyes,

"damn that was one hell of a staring contest, but as you can see I won!"

She went through at least fifteen emotions in the space of an instant, before settling on indignant anger, "THAT WAS JUST A STARING CONTEST? I THOUGHT YOU WERE READING ME WITH THAT WEIRD TRICK OF YOURS!!!!!"

He smiled happily at the beautiful irate blonde,

"I did. Well several years ago now, but nonetheless."

She couldn't believe her ears, standing on the bed about to stab the grinning idiot with Dawn,

"WELL WHAT THE HELL DID YOU SAY THAT THING FOR? YOU MADE ME NEARLY CRY I FELT SO BAD!!! AND YOU TELL ME IT WAS A LIE?"

He stopped smiling,

"Okay, sit and calm down for a minute and let me explain"

Kaori was about to keep yelling, when she saw how serious he was, she decided to listen and sit, albeit far from calm, as her crossed arms and legs indicated. Tyler started off by saying,

"For one thing I have never once Lied to you, and I never will at that, Second I did read you a little, but just enough to figure out what was bothering you so damn much. Third I didn't WANT to ever read you again in any capacity, as I value you too much to just dissect you like that, since that skill is only for the either unknown or untrustworthy. And you are neither of those things. I trust you, and depend on you a helluva lot more then you seem to think. So tell me, why are you so jealous of Malico?"

Kaori was instantly blown out of her irate mindset by his words, she felt so bad for ever doubting the man who had sacrificed so much, and risked his life so often for her. She couldn't even meet his gaze as she replied,

"Well you were hanging on Malico so much this morning, and you went to so much effort for her tail, and she was hanging on you so much which you seemed to enjoy a lot, that I guess i started to doubt whether you still needed me anymore."

She had a small whimper in her voice, like small child who had just been scolded which in a way she had. Tyler sighed and laid back on the bed,

"kaori, I know your hair color is blonde, but sometimes you seem to make it your mission to live up to the stereotype. I mean for gods sake I WANT you with me. If I didn't would you even be here right now? As for Malico, yer damn right I enjoy her hanging on me! What straight male weeb wouldn't want a busty catgirl hanging on him? And I went to such effort to save her tail, both for my Weeb brethren, and because I felt bad for the poor girl, I mean if we'd stepped in sooner, her tail wouldn't have been nearly torn out by the roots. But I guess the most important thing to remember is that I will always need you. Okay? Your my best friend, and never forget that! Come hell or angry dragons, we'll take'em on together right, Barbie?"

He had leapt off the bed and held out his hand,

"Well, what more can I say? You're stuck with me! so come on!"

he was smiling widely as he said this. Kaori looked up at the man and took his outstretched hand, tears in her eyes,

"Yeah Lets go! Together!"

And the lifelong friends raced out the room hand in hand, the only thing left behind was kaori's doubts and fears. As she flowed the inspirational man, she pondered over his words, Friends? HA! for now anyways! and I won't lose to that damned cat! Her face revealed nothing as the hurried back to dining hall, with a smile on her face.

The reaffirmed pair sat back at the table, and little Miyuki wasted zero time in reclaiming her new favorite seat on Tyler's lap. Kaori laughed at the eager little catgirl kitten. Malico had a knowing look on her face at the seemingly revitalized kaori,

"Wow, Kri, that must have been a rather stimulating conversation you had,"

Malico's voice a teasing purr. Kaori smirked at the busty cat,

"well Kitty, it was very stimulating, and I feel alot better now so thank you Tyler for checkin up with me, it means alot."

She had a gleam in her eyes and an edge in her voice. Tyler sighed, but let it go, as it was a competitive gleam, not a malicious one, Not that there's any real competition here, I think they're both great in different ways. still it is good for kaori to not get TOO full of herself. He was about to say something when Miyuki stole his undivided attention by stuffing a piece of bacon in his open mouth,

"Hey Big Brother, don't talk with your mouth full!"

He gave up and listened to the little cat. Chewing appreciatively he felt the need to correct her on one point,

"Um Miyuki, I appreciate the sentiment but your like three times older then me so I don't think I can be your big brother,"

Miyuki looked sad at this revelation, but Malico swooped in and saved the scene,

"Well in terms of time spent alive, yes her years outnumber your own, but in terms of prospective she's equivalent to about a human twelve year old. So you wind up as her Big Brother."

Here she leaned in close over the tabletop, her massive breasts bulging out on the wooden surface as she did so,

"And more importantly, why would you go out of your way to make your new little sister sad? eh you big meanie!"

Her words had truth, but her tone was mocking. Tyler apologized to the crestfallen kitten,

"I'm sorry, Miyuki, your big brother can be a bit of a fluff head sometimes, so don't worry."

He rubbed her fuzzy little head as he said this and Miyuki treated him a wide smile. Kaori, on the other hand was not smiling, for Malico's large oppai were still strewn across the table as she leaned in close to Tyler's face, giving him a good shot of the goods. Kaori moved to push the well-endowed cat back into her seat, angrily aware of her own lack of bulging cleavage,

"Hey simmer down kittycat, no wants to see that!"

Malico giggled as she sat down again,

"oh dear kaori, I weren't aware you wanted to see them! You should've said so, I'd love to let you see anytime you like!"

Kaori went red in the face at the lewd cat, but before she could launch herself at the grinning Cheshire cat, Tyler cut both of them off.

"Alright ladies enough, if you want to play, do it after breakfast please. Kaori, I asked you earlier, but where did you put your status points! and could you look over the License packet too? We need to head out soon."

Kaori slumped at this betrayal, and opened her HUD for his inspection. Tyler moved close to kaori to get a better look at her stats and where she put her new points. Myuki also looked too, and pretended she was helping.

After their battles with the riverside ambush and the three idiots, her level had risen as well, to a respectable sixteen, impressive but Tyler still had her beat again. As her physical stats went, they had also increased considerably as well, her physical strength had risen by twenty, bringing her to 45,Tyler's 60, Agility: Kaori 50, Tyler's 45, Stealth: Kaori 60 Tyler 60, physical defense: Kaori, 55, Tyler 105, speed: Kaori 105, Tyler 75, Magic: Kaori 150, Tyler, 90. The numbers across the board were impressive, with neither having a clear advantage over the other in terms of sheer numbers. after seeing her stats, and the hundred extra points she had to distribute, the duo spent their next fifteen minutes coordinating their respective points. Tyler had 150 to spend and Kaori had 100, so Tyler threw fifty into agility bringing it to 95, forty to strength, forty to magic, and split his remaining thirty between his mana pool, which was at a respectable 250, and every point poured into it would increase the pool further, and his stamina, which was at a lower 95. Stamina being the measure of time one could perform laborious tasks like running and fighting. Tyler had always been an out of shape couch potato, and even with his body being enhanced from coming to Lectis, his stamina needed work. He had been lucky that all his fights to that point had ended in under ten minutes. As Tyler was thinking this, he realized his biggest weakness, and reworked his stats immediately, pulling his fifty points from agility and the fifteen he'd planned to put in mana, and out the eighty points into stamina, raising it to 175, a far more respectable and manageable number; good how i can fight nonstop for three hours at full strength if need be. Kaori's stamina was at about 135, as she was more athletic then the slacker Tyler, but her worst stat was her strength, as her kendo relied on speed and reflexes then a muscle bound contest, so she split her points, 25 to agility, 25 to speed, 25 to physical defense, and 25 to mana pool. Tyler was impressed at her choices, as speed only increased how fast one could move and no other benefit, whereas agility aided the movement at speed, in other words, if you want to be faster, you increase speed, but if you wanted to control that speed you had to also increase agility.

Malico watched the two strategizing friends when her tail suddenly stood straight out in shock, the fur along it standing on end,

"Wait, are you two WARRIORS?, Like the ones who fight the monster waves?"

she had such a look of shock on her face the apparently legendary duo both looked at each other, confused. Tyler took it upon himself to answer,

"Aww yeah we're Warriors."

Malico's eyes looked like they were going to roll of her sockets, wide as the went, and even little Miyuki in his lap was dumbstruck at this development. Malico could barely keep her voice steady from both the shock that a pair of Warriors had come to her aid, and the fact that her little sister had been accepted as a surrogate little sister by one,

"You two...took time out of your journey to help me as much as you did, and you haven't even mentioned a word of reward...ME..a mere NekoPles, when the entire country needs you....words cannot express how grateful I am for your help, nor am I worthy of such a thing."

She had literally gotten up and got down on the floor on her hands and knees before the two, an act that Tyler did not like, and Miyuki made it worse by hopping off his lap and taking the same groveling position as her sister. Tyler had a slightly angry tone in his voice at the sight of the prostrated pair,

"Hey get up you two, I am not a king or lord for you to bow to. Malico, little Miyuki come on, sit back down."

Kaori was surprised he was so harsh, until that is she remembered his past and how he had probably groveled like that on many occasions. Malico and Miyuki both hurriedly sat back at the table like he'd whipped the sisters, and Miyuki was clearly fighting back tears at his harsh tone. Realizing he'd let his past creep on him, Tyler sat down and apologized,

"look, I'm sorry I yelled at you like that, seeing you groveling like that brought back some bad memories is all. Malico you didn't know we were Warriors till just now?"

The girls relaxed slightly, though both seemed on edge, Miyuki wiped her eyes, as Malico replied in a flat respectful tone,

"No sir, we didn't know, I just figured you were a pair of extremely kind, powerful travelers passing through. None of us realized you were such heroes of legend we read about in books."

Kaori looked uncomfortable with the whole situation, Tyler rubbed his temples,

"well, Malico, first off, your first guess was not wrong. We ARE powerful travelers passing through, and for the moment thats all we are. I am NOT a sir, I am Tyler that's my name so please keep using it as you've been. You can call Kaori anything and she'll be fine with it."

Here she elbowed him in the ribs, causing him to wince,

"We're not really invested in the whole Warriors legend or anything. For now we're just roaming the countryside lookin for adventure. when the waves come we'll fight because we kinda have to, but at the end of the day the only things we want are good food, good drink, good tales to tell, and good companions to do it all with, right Kaori?"

she gave an empathetic nod. Tyler continued,

"So could you go back to how you were before you found out please? I liked you better that way."

Here he looked at Miyuki,

"Hey, you big brother's gettin lonely other here, how bout a hug?"

Miyuki squealed with delight that she got to keep her new favorite brother and pounced on him and locked in a surprisingly air locking stranglehold. Malico, on the other hand seemed conflicted by something, She looked to Miyuki happily choking a helpless Tyler with her hug, and seemed to make a decision, but before she could speak, Miyuki beat her to it,

"Hey Big Brother Tyler are you gonna take Big Sister Malico on your journey?"

Tyler stopped choking long enough to give a hoarse,

"HUH?"

Miyuki finally noticed she was killing the man and released him from her grip,

"Are you taking her with you?"

She asked with her big green eyes sparkling at the thought of her sister roaming with Warriors. Tyler looked to kaori, only to find her looking at him,

"don't ask me, This is your crazy train after all."

she looked out the tavern window,

"But if you were to allow her to come, I guess I wouldn't mind"

she said this without looking at either of them, apparently fascinated by the outdoor scenery. Tyler turned back to Malico, who had remained silent thus far,

"Well Malico? DO you want to come with us? If so speak up."

Malico's tail was swishing back and forth as she raised her head, she looked distinctly bashful a change from her usual flirty, confident demeanor. when she spoke, she seemed more nervous, her voice a low mew,

"I was planning to ask when I had a good opportunity, but couldn't find the courage. Thanks Myuki,"

Her sister just grinned sweetly at her,

"I would like to travel with you two, if you'll have me."

Tyler looked thoughtful, Malico began hurriedly listing off her benefits,

"I'm an experienced fighter, I can do stealth based magic, I am a green path user, I can use a bow, I can cook, clean, make camp, ride a horse...."

She dropped her gaze and lowered her tone of voice,

"You can make use of my body as you see fit, both of you if you wanted"

That clinched it, Tyler decided,

"Malico I'm sorry."

She looked up hurt and heartbroken, kaori looked at him shocked and angry he would refuse such a heartfelt plea. Tyler continued speaking with a glint in his eyes,

"I'm sorry I made you resort to using your body as a method of bribery, I just wanted to see your resolve. and you passed"

Malico went from nearly bawling to breaking into a wide, happy smile. kaori was relieved too, and planned to smack him later for the unneeded stress. Tyler was smiling as well,

"I was making sure you TRULY wanted to come with us. me and kaori have made a few enemies, we'll tell you now the trail, and not all are monster.s.."

Tyler stood up and offered his hand to the beautiful, busty catgirl,

"Malico welcome to the freakshow!"

Kaori also stood and offered her hand along side Tyler's

"yes, Malico welcome, I sure you'll be great to have along."

The pair were smiling at their new friend and companion. Malico was smiling through her tears, and took each of their hands and grip them tight,

"Tyler, Kaori, thank you show much! I promise you won't regret this!"

After the touching moment had passed and the newly formed trio sat back down, they got to coordinating their new party in the Warrior's HUD. Tyler, having been elected as party leader for some reason, could see both Kaori's name and stats, and Malico's name and stats. He could also see their respective mana reserves, stamina reserves, and remaining health, along with any potential status ailments. As he was looking over Malico's physical stats he was impressed as all her stats were base, meaning they were her unimproved stats, and they were impressive her strength:40, Agility: 160, Stealth: 160, Physical defense: 50, Speed: 200, magic:160, Mana: 250 and her stamina was at a whopping 200. Looking over her stats Tyler knew exactly how she was gonna fit in with their combat skills. He looked at the still-beaming catgirl,

"Alright Malico, your going to be our Scout/Ranger. Sound good?"

Malico tuned a thoughtful look to Tyler,

"A Scout/Ranger? What will I do?"

Tyler explained as best he could,

"Well a Scout is for gathering intel on an area or person, for example we got ambushed on a riverbank a days ride from here, if you'd been there I'd have expected you to fall back and try to circle around the attackers using your speed, agility and stealth stats and attack from their rear. A Ranger, uses a bow for long-range sniping. I can't very well put you on the frontline of a fight with a low physical defense, no matter how fast you might be, with numbers like that, one solid hit and your done. That's why I'm thinking scout or ranger. We each have roles in a fight in our party, I'm the frontline attacker since i have high defense and use a shortsword, Kaori's our spellsword, as she can handle both fast blade work and spellcraft. Our strategy is for her to channel the majority of enemies to me and while I keep them occupied, kaori either casts spells from behind me or kills the ones who try to flank me. I compensate for her lack of strength and defense and she makes up for my lack of speed and agility. Although now that i think about it...you're faster then her, so I guess we need to rethink our entire plan. let me see"

As he was about to sink into deep thought, kaori tugged on his sleeve,

"Uhh I think you're over thinking this. When we got jumped we kinda just did our own thing and it worked fine, so i think if me just do that when the time comes, it'll all work out. You know? we find were we all fit on the field in the field."

Tyler smiled at his blonde friend,

"Alright kaori we'll go with your plan. since when could you figure out battlefield strategy?"

Kaori smacked him,

"Well I was taught outdoorsmanship by my uncle, who was, what was it? OH yeah! A friggin MARINE so I think I know a thing or two!"

Here Malico jumped in giggling,

"Only one or two? My maybe you should have payed more attention!"

Tyler burst out laughing as Kaori turned her wrath on the insolent catgirl,

"Oh just shut up jiggles!"

Malico laughed at her attempt at teasing,

"Oh my, jiggles? My friend they don't jiggle they bounce here see?"

And Malico gave her girls a little upward thrust and sure enough they bounced up and down, her shoulderless tunic barely containing the glorious melons. Tyler's eyes followed every movement they made with his eyes. Completely enthralled, that is until kaori whacked him yet again. Malico just smirked, knowing she had won this round. Kaori slide down the bench away from Tyler's side, her nose in the air. Rubbing his now sore-head, Tyler thought of something else he needed to know,

"Ouch that hurts every time, anyway...hey Malico, do you have a horse to ride? we don't have space for you to ride on ours, since our gears in the way."

Malico smiled,

"I do as a matter of fact, would you like to meet her? she's outside."

Tyler was gear to meet the animal, and at the mention of a new horse, Kaori perked up as well. So they went to investigate the new creature. It was the first time Tyler had been outside since he and kaori had entered the building for a meal three day prior. Thunder and Gloss were tied to the hitching post, and beside them was a newcomer, a large beautiful mare with a lovely splattering of yellow and brown on her flank. Her saddle was merely a simple black leather affair, with notches for equipment. In terms of size she was the same as Gloss, with an extra long mane of white hair, and a long braid of a tail completed the picture. Tyler, who still didn't know that much about horses, was impressed nonetheless. Kaori was the most impressed out of the pair, she was gushing like a waterfall over the beautiful animal, and pestering her owner with questions like age, breed, diet, and care regiments. Malico was delighted to have Kaori fawning over her friend, whom she had raised since birth. Tyler watched the girls enjoying the horses, when he noticed a small group of villagers were gathered around the far entrance to the village, the very same exit that Tyler and his friends were to go through on the journey to Dragul. Curious he walked over, getting jumped on by Miyuki as he did, so taking the only option open to him, he lifted the girl onto his shoulders, and let her ride him as he approached the group. Miyuki loved it. Tyler enjoyed the happiness he gave to the little kitten, but that quickly dissipated when he saw what had the villagers' attention. It was that same jackass that Tyler had let live from the trio who had hurt Malico. Upon seeing the man, the clear scars on his face proof enough, and the group of ten surly looking men, tyler knelt to the ground and placed Miyuki down. He covered her mouth with his hand before she could make a sound,

"Listen to me and listen well Miyuki, run. Run to Kaori and tell that the bad man with lines on his face cam back with friends. Tell her to ready the horses. can you do that?"

Miyuki saw the look of seriousness and nodded, determined to make her Warrior Big Brother happy, "Good and after you tell her hide, this ain't gonna be pretty. Now! RUN!"

He turned the girl around and gave her a slight push in the direction of the tavern. The little catgirl took of like a bullet. Satisfied, Tyler reared to his full height and drew Oblivion from his back, and approached the group through the crowd, which hid his movements as he closed the distance between them. The scar faced man was grinning with triumphant smugness from behind a massive bear of a person. The man was clearly the leader, and wielded a scythe for some reason, he was clad in a chainmail tunic cut to fit his girth, wore iron boots and had spiked gauntlets on his hands, oddly though he wore no helm. Tyler could see that the rest of his men were armed with a collection of either swords, spears, and a single bow. Tyler couldn't tell if any were spellcasters, but that wasn't what set his blood to boiling and his vision tinted red. The large man had Houndra and his equally elderly wife on the ground before him, slashing at the frail pair with a long stick with a razor blade fused to one end. Houndra was covering his wife with his own frail body, and as the bigger man raised the stick for another strike, the cowardly bully asked a single question:

"Where be the laddee wot killed my brother his friend and wot scared this man?"

Houndra spat out blood from his damaged mouth, and glared defiantly at the much stronger man. "Heh he's here somewhere. Maybe if you say sorry and promise to never do it again he'll kill you painlessly. otherwise go fuck yourself, as he would say!"

Tyler smiled at the old cats taunt, glad i'm teaching them something useful. The leader of the gang wasn't as amused, and dropped the stick and drew the large black scythe from his back sling.

"Aright ya old bastard, I gave you a chance, now you and you're hag wife will meet the Reaper."

He swung the scythe in a wide arc meaning to cleave the old pair in half. The old cat's eyes never leaving the mans, and his faith and bravery were rewarded. With the telltale crash of metal on metal, Tyler had blocked the curving scythe by stepping inside the curve of the blade and locking it in place with Oblivion's crosstree. he looked at the bloodshot eyes of the fuming gang leader,

"So YOU'RE supposed to be the reaper huh? Pathetic."

Tyler grabbed the pole holding the blade of the scythe and lifted it over his head and threw it back towards the man, shoving him a good ten paces backward. Tyler glanced back at the elderly cats breathing sighs of relief at his arrival,

"don't worry Houndra, the others are coming so just relax, and try not to bleed everywhere kay?"

The ever feisty cat huffed,

"Tch, took ya long enuff to git here"

Tyler smiled at the grumpy cat.

"Hey, you think you can ignore me ya runt?! Who are ya?!"

Tyler turned to look the big bastard in the eye, his gaze cold as ice, and his voice hard as steel,

"Next time you go look fer someone, make sure to find out what they look like ya jackass. My names Tyler, but you can call me your executioner."

As he finished speaking he noticed a set of scars on a man's face,

"And as for you, Malico's kindness won't save you this time, the only question is one piece or several." enraged at being ignored again by this runt the much bigger man stepped into a long swinging arc with his great scythe that had it landed, would have cut Tyler in half. Only problem was Tyler was neither stupid enough to stand still, or blind enough not to read the weapons intended path. He waited until the last second before the scythe made contact and ducked beneath the whizzing harvester's weapon. The blade swooshed harmlessly over his head, taking a few hairs with it as he sidestepped under the blade, and brought Oblivion up point first towards the mans exposed flank. The man countered the thrust by whacking out at him with the butt of the pole, hitting him in the midriff and knocking him into a pole supporting the village sign with a cracking impact. Tyler slumped down like a broken doll, Oblivion clanging to the ground just in front of him. Malico and Kaori arrived on the scene to see him hit the pole. Malico was about to rush over to help, but kaori stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. Malico turned on the girl,

"Hey we need to help him he's hurt!"

Kaori just shook her head, she knew what was coming,

"Listen, that man just pissed him off, nothing more, watch this is gonna get very messy very quick. He calls himself a Monster for a reason."

Malico was gonna protest further but the look in Kaori's eyes was enough to dissuade the now nervous catgirl. So she stayed at the trembling blonde's side and bore witness to the struggle between wannabe Reaper and true Monster.

The scythe wielding Reaper was approaching the still motionless Tyler, his blade tip forward, taunting the fallen boy as he went,

"is that it? ya talked such a big boy talk bout bein my executioner an now look at ya, laid out the floor. Heh, maybe when I'm finished with you I'll introduce meself to yur pretty friend over there, heh, I wonder what she'll sound like tonight when I'm the one stuffin her to the hilt?"

The scar faced man was confused that the horror he'd only survived by the grace of the catgirl was so weak this time around, he got his answer seconds after the Reaper talked of ravishing an unwilling Kaori.

Tyler surged to his feet, Oblivion in his right fist, and the Sgian dao dagger in his left. He had heard the man's plans for the pretty blonde and it had set off the evil in his soul, he let fly with a primal roar as the Monster was fully awakened. The Reaper took a step back from the sheer bloodlust in both the man' feral cry and his gaze. He readied his longer weapon for the sure to come onslaught, holding the polearm sideways to better defend from incoming attacks, widening both his stance and his grip on the haft, he thought he was ready. He was not. He thought he could handle him. He could not. Tyler snapped his jaw shut and charged the Reaper on flighted feet, hunched forward, his weapons trailing behind him, blades turned towards the ground. He was no longer a man, no his years of pain and suffering had solidified into an entirely different personality: The Monster. a heartless, merciless, pitiless horror. As the Monster Reached the Reaper, he threw the dagger at the man's hand causing him to move it to avoid a cut, and sliced through the man's calf as he flew past the larger man. Then turning on his heel, the Monster brought the silvery blade around in a vicious backhanded slash aimed at the man's knee. The Reaper's leg buckled and he dropped to a knee with the Monster behind him reading another strike, so abandoning the now useless scythe the big man threw himself into a forward roll, narrowly being missed by the Monster's sword swing. The man was back on his feet the next instant, and found his leg would no longer support is full weight, and as he pulled a small hatchet from his belt he saw the Monster drop his sword in favor of the now discarded scythe. The man could not believe what he was seeing as the Monster gripped the haft in a manner one would hold a spear, the blade pointed at the enemy, the right on the lower end of the weapon and the left being the leader, as if preparing for a thrust. The Reaper figured the lad had lost his wits in the depths of his rage, and hobbled into a overhead strike with the long handled hatchet, meaning to cleave the Monster's skull. But the Monster had other ideas and lunged at the Reaper, shoving the Scythe head towards the Reaper's stomach forcing him to block with the hatchet head, and then did he realize his folly, for the Monster clipped the scythe head, which had been angled, off the Hatchet blade, and used to momentum from both his lunging combined with the reflection of the weapons to spin a circle and swing the Scythe with savage strength and the Reapers unprotected back, as the scythe blade was curved the tip had been free to sneak around and imbed itself in the Reaper's broad back. As it had been a long arc of a swing it only pierced the Reaper's chainmail and skin by about an inch, and prevented it from hitting anything vital. The Reaper bore the pain and tried to use wrestle the scythe from the hands of the smaller man, and was successful in retrieving his weapon, dropping the one hand hatcht to do so. the man went to raise the weapon overhead for a massive two-handed strike on the exposed Monster's head, but his sliced calf had other plans. Unable to take the strain any further, the leg buckled again, only this time the remaining flesh holding in place tore, separating man and leg. The man dropped his scythe for the second time, clutching at the stump, trying to keep his life blood from pouring out. He screamed in pain, and desperately searched for someone to help him, anyone at all. He saw his gang watching on and called to them for aid, only for them to remain in their place as if rooted to the spot by something unseen. The bleeding man screamed and tried to drag himself over to them, but his cries went unheeded, and his other foot hit something hard. He looked back to see the Monster standing with his scythe in his hands, a sadistic grin stretched across his face, as he raised the weapon with a deliberate slowness savoring every moment of the pleading, begging, crying man.

"Please don't! Have mercy! please spare me I'm begging you!!! Helppp-aghh!"

the Monster dropped the scythe in a long slow arc, severing the Reapers head in a single strike, and then tossing aside the glistening weapon he grabbed the severed head and swung it by the hair, spraying blood from the neck across the village entrance as the monster reveled in the kill. It then Twirled the head by it's hair and throw it at the group of nine remaining gang members by the gate. One man managed to catch the head and turned grinning at his success only to find the other tripping over themselves in terror, the confused man looked back in time to see Oblivion smash into his neck as the Monster flew past him, slashing and hacking the men behind in to pieces as he went. Unfortunately the man who had caught the Reaper's head knew nothing of this has his own head fell to the ground followed by his former leaders' and his body, for he had been the Monster's second victim on his rampage.