Valor, of the Order of Piety

Eudora collapses to the ground clutching her head. The black blotches are covering more of her face now. She was fine earlier, but can hardly appear to stand on her own.

"You're weakened," Mira chides. "A perfect time to kill you."

I rush over to help Eudora up. "Mira, stop trying to kill everything!"

Mira shrugs. Her eyes flash as she hijacks Talos' vision. Meanwhile, I help Eudora to her feet. She glances at the alraune and chuckles.

"Leave it to you to screw another creature into submission," Eudora remarks.

"Don't tease me like that… More importantly, what's happening to you? The souls are too much for your body to handle, aren't they?"

Eudora gestures to the alchemy cauldron. I steady her steps as we make our way over. She strips her clothes off, revealing half her body covered in black marks. It's like the blanket of night has been cast over her, but there are no stars, only a pitch-dark abyss.

The alchemical waters spills over the top as she submerges herself in the cauldron. A strained sigh escapes her throat.

"In my desperation I accidentally consumed a duplicate soul. Two souls of lust are tearing my body apart, and I constantly need to placate them. I'll die a painful death otherwise." Eudora points to a jar on the shelf. I bring it down for her and she empties its liquid contents into the cauldron. A moment passes, and her body tenses up. Her expression has become more relaxed.

"What was that? A sedative?" I ask.

"What? No. That was secretions from a red slime I created. It's to give me orgasms so I don't have to deal with the pain of having this body torn to shreds." Her head rears up, eyes squeezed shut and biting down on her lips, as she apparently reaches an orgasm.

"Forget I asked…"

"Oh—" Mira squints as though trying to peer at something. She releases her sight and begins to head out. "They've come up."

Loud explosions can be heard just outside of the mansion. It seems both the witches and the Order of Piety have taken the battle inside the tower. A wet hand falls on my shoulder. Eudora pulls me down to face her.

"I cannot fight in this condition. You must stop Valor and his ilk from reaching the mansion or all our research will be for naught."

"Leave it to us," I say.

Mira sneers. "Yes, yes. The old lady will remain here bound to her bathtub while we trim the garden."

Eudora shakes a fist at Mira as we close the door behind us. We rush outside to see the witches being put on the defensive. They're attacked by an unseen force that they can't seem to deflect.

Standing in front of the gazebo is a line of two dozen knights. One of them, arms crossed and foot tapping impatiently on the ground, is much shorter than the rest. He is adorned with armor similar to that of Humility, and merely watches as the invisible blows begin to wear out Alira and the others.

A flash of light at the gazebo startles the knights. Talos flies out of it and perches upon Mira's shoulder. The knights finally see us coming out of the mansion and draw their weapons on us. Valor takes a step forward, the unseen attacks seemingly stop.

Mira leans in to whisper, "Valor appears to have made invisible two swords that he can control telekinetically. I imagine this is a result of another soul-binding."

The other witches fall back to us. Alira has cuts all over her body that her robes are in tatters.

"He's too strong. We need Eudora's help," she warns.

"Let us handle this," I say, handing her a restoration potion.

"Be careful." Alira nods and rounds up her colleagues into the mansion. Seeing as we haven't been attacked yet, it seems Valor has enough courtesy to let us get the injured inside. As soon as they get inside, I stand to face him alongside Mira. "You must be quite the gentleman to spare us a moment of reprieve."

This is a christened knight of the Order of Piety. He's no doubt as strong as if not stronger than Humility. Even with Mira here, I shouldn't get complacent. Whatever gimmick he has, however, is already revealed to us in the form of invisible swords.

Valor bows low. "My mother taught me to be kind to those less fortunate. There is no glory in chasing after wounded dogs."

Mira and I are taken aback by the youthfulness, almost feminine voice that speaks to us. She gives me a weird look and giggles into her hand.

"Will you do us the honor of showing us your face before we do battle?" Mira asks.

"Oh! Where are my manners?" Valor takes off his helmet, revealing a juvenile-faced boy whose short, messy blonde hair only accentuates his youth. "The Order of Piety, Noah Theodin. Among my fellows, I am christened— Valor."

"Aw, would you look at that? Aren't you a little too young to be playing soldier, darling?" Mira calls out, not bothering to contain her laughter.

Valor stomps the ground, face quickly turning red. "I'll have you know, I'm eighteen! The mantle of Valor was bestowed upon me by none other than my father, a former knight of the Order of Piety."

Mira puts her hands on her hips, unamused. "The runt is throwing a tantrum—"

Clang!

A sharp metallic clatter causes me to wince and miss it. The attack happened in a split second— Mira had struck the space in front of her with her staff and knocked something away. Her eyes are glowing, she has Talos' vision hijacked as he's flying circles in the air.

"You can see?" I ask her.

"No, but our familiars can." Mira answers.

I hijack Rio's vision, and just as Mira described, there are two swords floating next to Valor.

"So what if you can see them. That shall not discourage me one bit." Valor yells. "Forward, my knights. Eudora is inside, let us face their terror with our courage!"

The winds shift around me, moving faster than the charging knights. Mira deflects a sword, and I dive out of the way to avoid the other. I can't fight the way she can. Her ability to stay so in tune with Talos is on a level beyond Rio and myself.

However…

"Rio, sick 'em!"

Two spiked appendages emerge from Rio's back. He turns invisible himself and launches past the knights directly for Valor. But before my familiar can land a blow, Valor unsheathes two more swords hidden under his cloak to parry the strikes.

"He's good for being so young," Mira remarks as she helps me back up. She brushes the dirt and dust from my robes. "You should have no fear of blades, enchanted or no."

"What—Oh!" Because I'm wearing living robes, I should have incredible physical resistance on par with that of slimes. "But asking me to just take a hit is a little… that instinctual fear is ingrained in me, you know— uwah?!"

I flinch back, nearly falling on my butt as Mira plunges a dagger into my gut. However, the blade is stuck firmly on the surface of my robes, poking mere millimeters deep. I feel the point and the weight of her stab, but there is no pain nor blood drawn. It's just like when I was being flechetted by Belle's ice storm.

"Mock me for my age and height if you wish, but even though I'm small, I possess the courage of a mighty dragon." Valor strikes Rio hard enough to send him flying back into my arms.

At this point, we've dallied enough that Valor's knights have come too close for comfort.

"Mira, we should fall back."

"No, need." Mira raises her staff to the sky. "Talos, darling, clear a path."

Dark clouds form under the artificial sun of the forged world. Talos beats his wings from above us, battering the field with frigid winds. It becomes cold, too cold. A hail of ice rains down on the small army of knights, impaling them to the ground. The clouds disappear just as quickly as they formed.

"I won't be defeated by the likes of such evil!" Valor tosses two more swords into the air that disappear.

Mira yawns. She drops to the ground and digs her fingers into the dirt. Countless vines and roots sprout from the field, forming a barrier around us and a forest between us and Valor. He advances undeterred, cutting everything in his way. Roots begin to wrap around our legs and body, and Mira winks at me before our vision is taken from us. I toss as many slumber vials to the ground as I can before we're pulled under.

In the next moment we appear on the gazebo, watching Valor cut his way towards the barrier unbeknownst to him that we're no longer there. I hold my staff, the fabric of my robes extend to meet my hand. An incredible amount of magic pours forward as I conjure the largest fireblast I've managed yet.

"Igni!"

Valor notices too late. A meteor crashes down on him, exploding as it impacts the ground. Mira throws an arm around my shoulders.

"Well done—"

Something sings past me. Three more emerge from the smoke. Rio catches one out of the air, and the other two clatter to the ground at my feet. Mira comes to my aid, readying a spell to face Valor again. But when the smoke clears, our quarry is unconscious on the ground.

***

Eudora has us bring Valor and his weapons upstairs to the alchemy lab. We strip him of his armor and equipment and find that they are all imbued with some form of magical enchantments. The blast of fire isn't what did him in, the enchants protected him from that. It was the vapor from the slumber vials that put him out of commission.

Valor awakens, naked and in the clutches of the alraune. "Wha— where am I? What happened?"

Mira and I watch from the side as the other witches crowd around him with ravenous intent. For them to be stuck out here in the Weeping Expanse doesn't give them many options to relieve themselves. So to see a potential male companion, a young and rather cute one at that, is sure to stir their loins.

One of the witches squeals. "Who would have thought the knight that was going to kill us is so cute!"

"He's already blushing. You think he's a virgin?" Another chimes in.

"I hear the Order of Piety doesn't allow sex. Someone like him must be pent-up."

Valor struggles in vain against the alraune's vines. "D-Don't think you can get away with this. The others will— ahh!"

A vine slithers its way between Valor's legs and strokes his penis that's quickly becoming erect. The vine splits open into a mouth and sucks it in.

"Stop! Ahh— don't you dare… my faith will protect me— guh…"

Mira offers a wicked smirk at Valor's predicament. "We're lucky this time around. For them to send someone so green, they must be underestimating us after their resounding victory in the capital."

"Humility is still a knight to watch out for. I dread to think I have to fight her again."

"You won't be alone next time," Mira assures me.

Eudora beckons Mira and I out to the hallway. It doesn't look like Valor will be getting out of that anytime soon, nor will he be resting. Mira blows him a kiss on our way out as he curses at us.

"Good news is I can reverse engineer Valor's swords, strange news is there is a fragment inside him," she tells us.

"Do you mean to say he consumed a soul stone?" I ask.

Eudora shrugs. "It's odd. He did and he did not. My guess is Anora found a way for them to make use of the souls without actually ingesting them."

Mira leans against the wall to listen to the commotion going on the other side of the door. "Valor may know. I have my ways of making people speak."

"How about no," Eudora wags a finger at Mira. "I've seen what you did to three of my disciples. You leave Valor in my delicate hands. In the meantime, I have a task for you two."

"We're only working together because Anora is our common enemy. Don't think for one second that makes us your gofers, Eudora." Mira snaps back.

I stand between them before they start going at each other's throats. "What is it that you want us to do?"

"I need a basilisk's gallbladder. At this rate, my body is decaying rapidly. I'll need a new form soon and it is a key ingredient to creating a new construct. However, I cannot leave this tower for too long or risk expediting the degeneration of this body." Eudora reaches into her bag and unravels a spell scroll. "Behold, a translocation spell."

"To… get us to the basilisk?" I ask.

"Your settlement is at the border of the Weeping Expanse, is it not?"

The moment she says that, it becomes clear to me what she intends the spell scroll for. Judging by the inscriptions, it is a massive spell at that. This is a perfect opportunity for me to move the entirety of Ellowyn and its inhabitants away from the Order of Piety and Anora's warpath.

She rolls it back up and tucks it away. "Bring me the organ, or the entire basilisk— whichever gets me the gallbladder. And I hand you the means to save your precious village."

"Consider it done."