Unexpected Survival
Dakuan stared up at the explosion site and the rising smoke, in dread. "Fucking amateurs! You're all dead?! There's so much we still have to do and I never had a chance to try my luck with those women yet!" He screamed in anger giving his position away, but he was lucky no one was nearby.
*Thump* *Groans*
He turned around quickly for an old man heaving a sigh of relief when he saw us all on the ground injured, but alive. "For a minute there, I thought you were all killed. I'm glad that you're all alive." What he left out was that they're still useful for drawing attention away from him.
"It was a very close call, if it wasn't for Rinko, we all would've been dead," I said praising her before throwing up on the side. I sat up against a tree with Rinko laying her head against my chest feeling too tired to move. Kuroyuri and Midori rested next to me on either side. Jubei and Kagero sat up against separate trees keeping us all in their line of sight feeling nauseous from the teleportation.
We spend about an hour relaxing, but Dakuan had to ruin it. "That's enough resting, for now, we still have a mission to complete."
"The enemy thinks we're dead and would lower their guard. We should take a break before continuing with our mission," Jubei said countering his order, much to his anger.
Dakuan sighed in annoyance and sat down with a huff getting something to eat from his sleeve pocket.
After another 30 minutes, we started walking through the forest in silence.
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Zakuro arrived back at a different safe house in a happy mood since she got to explode something and she imagined Yurimaru was inside with them. It made her all warm and fuzzy inside, but it died when she saw Yurimaru standing there.
"Where is Benisato? I thought you went with her to deal with those spies." Yurimaru frowned pretending to be confused but he was inwardly gloating about how he dealt with them all.
"She was supposed to make it outside, but it seemed that she underestimated them. By the time I found out, it was too late to stop it. You must be happy, right? You get to be our lord's favorite again until he finds someone else," Zakuro said shaking her head as she moved passed him.
"Did you make sure that they were all dead?" Yurimaru questioned her, even though he already knew the answer.
She hesitated very slightly, but acted normal, "Well yes, as much as I can that is. The whole place was burning and there was too much rubble to check properly. I only saw 4 people going inside, then I activated the trap and there should only be 3 left." After saying that, she soon left going up to her room and saw a snake slowly slithering from her pillow. She pulled out a small mouse from her sleeve and threw it at the snake.
She watched as it bit down, coiling around it, and started swallowing the rodent. 'It's all going according to plan, and now we just need to wait for those spies that survived to show themselves.'
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(Next day)
I let out a silent groan, feeling my muscles ache from sleeping on the hard ground, but I was happy since I got three new draws. It was somewhat worth it to be woken up every four or so hours for this.
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Fairy Knights (SR)
Faction: UFS
Lv 1 (0/488)
ATK: 318
DEF: 185
Skills: Happiness Hurricane Flash (Lv1/5) Increases ATK of ally UFS by 30%.
Asuka Koukawa (R)
Faction: UFS
Lv 1 (0/300)
ATK: 137
DEF: 137
Skills: Ninjutsu: Godwind (Lv1/5)
Increases ATK of ally UFS by 22%.
Helene (R)
Faction: Demon
Lv 1 (0/300)
ATK: 170
DEF: 111
Skills: Ecstacy Sleeper (Lv1/5)
Increases ATK of ally Demon by 14%.
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Though I'm not sure how to actually explain how they knew where to find us without drawing suspicions on us, so I gave them to Rinko for safekeeping. At least my deck could be hidden under my clothes and I'm happy that it's completely waterproof.
I stood up with a groan feeling my bones pop as I stretched and did my business behind a few trees. After everyone else did the same, we soon started walking while eating some dried jerky.
It didn't take long for us to hear a waterfall in the distance and it only took a few more minutes before seeing it. It was beautiful, seeing the environment without any trash and the cliff edges as far as the eye could see.
"Jubei, cut this tree down," Dakuan said, patting a big and very thick tree that was next to him.
Jubei didn't say anything to that ludicrous request and did as he was told. He bent his knees slightly, eyes narrowed as his hand was on the handle, and swung his katana from left to right. He then sheathed his weapon and nothing happened.
I blinked wondering if it needed a light push for the tree to fall, but a gusty of wind did that. The tree started tipping over before falling off the cliff side and fell into the water with a loud splash. It started moving slowly thanks to the current, leading it somewhere in the distance.
"Okay everyone, time to go for a swim," Dakuan said ignoring the looks he received as he turned around, walking a few paces before running and jumping off.
I scratched my head watching him fall until he went into the water and swam up to the tree. I turned to the others and I couldn't help but ask, "Does he know Rinko can just teleport us down to the tree without doing that?"
"I think so, but where's the fun in that," Kuroyuri said before jumping off the cliff and Jubei followed after her without a word like a boss.
I let out a sigh as everyone else moved closer to Rinko. I took a deep breath and in the next instant, our location changed. I landed on top of the tree for a second before jumping down to the water, gasping at home cold it was. I hugged a branch and started kicking my legs, trying to keep my head above the water.
"Why couldn't we just continue walking?" I couldn't help but ask, shivering as I thought I felt something touch my leg.
Kagero frowned, silently agreeing with me, trying to figure out why they're taking a long way around and not using the Shirou Kara river, to head straight towards Shimoda Village. It would have taken them about 20 or so minutes.
"Even though it's slower, we have to make sure that our enemies won't find us by using a less-than-expected route to our destination," Dakuan spoke seriously, causing us to stay quiet even if him trying to stay under the thick leaves to camouflage his location made him look silly. "Make sure you hold on tight since we'll be crossing the rapids in a few minutes."
I couldn't help but sigh at the new message appearing.
[Draw a card pack?]
[Yes/No]
I pressed yes and waited for the new cards to appear into my deck.
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[Taimanin Nurse] Ayame Makishima (SR)
[Taimagical Girl] Lilith (HR)
Nadra Vyrol (R)
Sabato Kiryuu (N)
Ninja Axe (R)
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[Transferring to deck]
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Yurimaru stood alone on a cliff's edge staring down at a certain tree that was drifting in the river. "You didn't find anything else unusual? No tracks in the forest or something similar?"
His shadow darkened and expanded until a person slowly appeared. Shijima is a thin man with pale skin. He's wearing a traditional dark purple ninja robe and black turban. He frowned in anger as his tracking skills were being questioned, "I found nothing in the trees or the roads leading to Shimoda village. This is the only thing unusual."
Yurimaru didn't say anything in response, but he did throw a kunai with a string attached to the river and used his power. After a flash of light, nothing seemed to happen for a few seconds until suddenly the water exploded high into the air and crashed back down. "It's possible they used this tree as cover since they all have unique abilities. The four of you, check out the town just in case I'm right."
"You're giving them too much credit. No one could have escaped Zakuro's bombing," A different man's voice was heard.
"Just being cautious, we wouldn't want to give our lord Genma the wrong news now do we?" Yurimaru asked rhetorically since the last person did... was never heard from again or the rumor says.
Shijima shivered in fear, "No we wouldn't." He then sunk into the shadows and headed towards the village in question. Three more hidden figures followed after him, leaving Yurimaru all alone.
"On to more important business, finding two new members for our group," He spoke to himself before turning around, and walking away.
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(Shimoda Village)
The village was quiet, it reeked of death and the atmosphere wasn't helping. I silently prayed for the people that lived here hoping they would find peace in the afterlife and hoping none will turn into demons from their hatred.
I walked into a house found more bodies and received a new prompt.
[Draw a card?]
[Yes/No]
I drew the card not paying attention to it until after I covered them with a sheet.
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Revolver (N)
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I summoned it into my hand and stared at it. It's two silver revolvers with six purple bullets loaded inside with a purple gem embedded on the side of the weapons and shoulder holster for said guns. I could somehow feel the gem pulsating and taking in a small portion of my mana before it stopped.
I'm guessing that it draws on the taimanin's Taima Particles and uses that to kill the demons. It's an easy method to use their power without much experience in controlling it. I put it into the pockets, stretching, trying to get comfortable with said holster, and put on my shirt again.
I went back out to see Kuroyuri walking away from one house and Midori was missing. I went looking for her and found her on her knees picking up a small toy before putting it into a little girl's hand and closing it. She silently stood back up and I hugged her from behind as she patted my hand.
We stayed like that for a few minutes before leaving and regrouping with Rinko and Misao who were looking at the other houses in sorrow. A minute later, we were all in a bigger house with a mother and her son.
"They poisoned the water supplies and covered it up by saying it was caused by a plague which had happened from time to time. Such clever bastards," Dakuan spoke his mind, mostly to himself. "Why? What's so important that they would go through all this trouble?"
"Money, most likely," Kuroyuri said, drawing our attention to her. "It must be an obscene amount if they're driving everyone out."
Dakuan's eyes widen in shock as he breathed in before coughing trying to cover up his reaction. It didn't work as Jubei narrowed his eyes before it clicked for him, all the pieces lining up.
"She's right, isn't she, Dakuan?" Jubei questioned him standing up with his hand clenched tightly to his katana. "They must have been using a boat to be inconspicuous rather than a carriage that could be inspected, taking all that gold to the Dark Shogun."
"It must be a huge amount of gold if they're using a boat," I said licking my lips remembering there were rows of it and it all spilled into the sea. Can't we 'misplace' all that gold into our hands instead? The bad guys certainly wouldn't need it and it would give us a ton of money.
"The storm... it could have forced the boat to capsize and crashed somewhere near this area," Midori said putting it all together. "We need to find a higher vantage point to find said crashed ship."
Kagero frowned upon this news and started writing it all down for her lord. After that, she put it away in her shirt for now and planned on sending it when they were not being hunted.
I stared out the door trying to look for anything suspicious, but all I found was a few wasps splitting up, searching the houses. I narrowed my eyes at that and without taking my eyes off of them, I called out to them, "I think we're going to have to move, now. A few wasps are searching the houses for us."
That got everyone to tense up as two said wasps appeared briefly before leaving, alerting the other wasps before Jubei slew them and the rest flew away. "Well, now they know we're here and we should prepare to fight."
"Yeah, I don't think that's possible..." Kuroyuri said slowly moving backward and I gulped at the sight of seeing thousands of them coming at us. There's even quite a few wasps bigger than my head flying with the smaller ones. Where's the flamethrower when you need one?
"Run! Save yourselves!" Dakuan shouted in fear, shoving open the door, and started running away with us behind him. We soon left the town hearing a loud buzzing sound that I couldn't help but looked behind us finding out that the wasps were catching up to us and would overtake us soon. "They're catching up! I don't think we can outrun them."
Misao stopped, turning to face the swarm. She drew her weapon as blue fire formed on her blade and swung it killing a few hundred wasps and hornets. It didn't work as more came from all sides instead and surrounded us at a distance. A few bigger wasps went around Misao causing Kagero to raise her arms letting her sleeves hang open allowing flower petals to flow out, messing with their senses. Some wasps fell twitching, others flew burning, trying and failing to stay away from Misao.
"Keep it up Misao and Kagero! Until we could find the source, we need to rely on you both," Dakuan said from his hiding spot.
We looked around trying to find the source, but Jubei found him first, and ran after him, leaving us. "Jubei wait! It could be a trap... and he's gone," I started yelling, but he was soon gone as the wasps closed the space so we couldn't follow after him.
Rinko started firing rounds of Kuuton bullets in the distance which explode on contact sucking in a group of wasps and then exploded displacing more. She soon stopped realizing that it also messed with Kagero's technique when a few smaller wasps kamikazed themselves trying to disperse the drugs.
All we could do now is wait for Jubei to kill the person and hope Kagero could hold on. While he does that, we have to protect Kagero and Misao from the bigger wasps that didn't seem to be that affected by the heat or smell.