Eskea Bloodleecher's Story

It was dawn in Melangada. The guards stood watch at the front gate seeing a woman in the distance. At first nothing seemed odd about her but the closer she got, the more obvious it was that she was a giantess. One of the guard grabbed his weapon and said: "Turn back! Your kind isnt welcome here." The woman didnt stop though until she was only a few paces away from the guard. "I said turn back!" The guard said. The giantess shook her head and said: "You shouldn't judge someone by size. I do not have any bad intentions and can offer the town large quantities of potions and can offer medical treatment." "Impossible. Giants are ignorant of knowledge! No giant is ever able to heal or conduct alchemy!" The guard said. Then the giantess took off her mask revealing a beautiful face, which was untypical of a giant. "I am not just some giantess. I am Eskea Bloodleecher, probably the most intelligent giant to have ever lived. Attacking me could be a mistake. Especially because even a giant without magical skill can level the town and I do not wish to fight."

The guard captain who stood on the gate said: "Let her in! A recruit like you does not have the right to deny such an extraordinary giantess like her access!" The guard then put down his weapon and let Eskea in. Upon entering the town, Eskea got many stares. Many people hadnt ever seen a giant before and the few who had, had never seen a giant who wasn't ugly, bulk or aggressive.

She entered a drinking hall fit for her size and sat down on the ground. "An extra large ale for me!" She called out to the bartender who then nodded, not minding her size.

It was the whispering crowds that had caught Emrys' attention.

Emrys Nicholas had arrived in Melangada about a week ago and, since then, had found the city to be filled with two things: vagabonds and rumors. Word traveled quickly through the city, albeit, often false words. However, Emrys had also quickly found that accurate news was spread just as often as false news. The common criminal of Melangada was very quick to find the wealthy traveler, while the wealthy traveler was very quick to find himself an unwealthy traveler. Emry himself had already, on several occasions, found himself in the precarious position of having to face three or four rogues in combat.

And so, when news that a giantess--one that wasn't repulsive but, instead, rather pleasant looking--had reached his ears, Emrys immediately set out to find her, before the vagabonds did.

Between the gathering crowds and the her height, finding the giantess wasn't difficult for the knight. Unfortunately, that also meant that finding the giantess wasn't very difficult for the criminals. Already, Emrys could pick out a few harsh faces that he recognized--some of the guys that had tried to rob him. Emrys watched as the giantess disappeared into a drinking hall, followed by three rugged men. The knight let out a sigh. It was too early for things to get rough and, from the looks of this, 'rough' was exactly were things were going...

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He stepped into the hall, a reasonably lofty one--still a bit small for the giantess, though--, to find the giantess sitting on the bare ground with her back towards him. The bartender slid a mug towards her; it was filled with a dark liquid. Ale, Emrys thought to himself. He looked around to see where the three men had gone and found them, each sitting a couple tables away from where the giantess was seated eying her and not even noticing him.

Emrys looked at the giantess and took a deep breath. "Ale. It relaxes the mind, dulls the senses, and gives an overall good feeling once you drink enough of it," the knight noted as he walked up to the giantess. He pulled a seat over and set his shield down on his left. "You've gathered quite a crowd," Emrys continued, eying her. He smiled kindly and gave a slight nod towards the three men positions conspicuously around the hall, "Perhaps relaxing the mind and dulling the senses aren't such good ideas right now." The knight gestured to the seat he had pulled over to ask if the giantess would mind his sitting beside her.

Eskea looked at the man beside her and said: "A single ale soothes the throat. I have no intention to get drunk. I do not think this tavern has enough ale to get me drunk. If you are talking about pickpockets or thieves you won't have to worry. I am very well with self defense and even without my sword I can tear an attacker apart." She left out eating humans since it was rather a rumor that giants ate humans but it was partially true in a specific sense.

"I am only a simple wandering medic though. I have travelled from the Xar Empire through the warzone to the Land of Light, offering my service to anyone in need of it. I gather knowledge on my way through books and other means." Eskea continued. "Why would a person like you talk to a giantess like me?"

The knight gave a hearty laugh and took a seat.

"You would be surprised, some of these people..." His gaze seemed to trailed off to some middle distance. "I've been traveling for some time now and have often found it helpful to have someone else with you--especially when traveling through unfamiliar territories. There are some things that I've seen which would make even the best warriors--"

The Emry's voice trailed off as the door behind the two creaked open. The knight's hand glided toward his sword, which was sheathed in his shield. But it was just a group of men, groaning as they trudged into the hall and taking up two tables' worth of seats.

Emrys gave the giantess an amused look, "You seem more than capable of taking care of yourself." He remembered some unpleasant talk that he had heard about some giants having an appetite for humans and, now, standing face to face with one, he didn't feel any reason to think otherwise. "So, why would a Xarian giantess, go through the trouble of traveling to the Land of Light to offer medical services? I'm sure there are plenty in the Xar Empire who are in need of the same care."

When the knight wondered why a giantess would wander into the Land of Light, Eskea said: "Well for the first 18 or 19 years of my life I was stuck in a village of my kind. I felt I was held prisoner there. Not because giants felt that I shouldnt see the outside world but they worshiped me as a goddess because they didn't understand magic, alchemy or mechanics which I all had knowledge of. One day, while I went to fetch herbs, a fire broke out in the village killing everyone. It might have been a fire demon which overwhelmed the villagers. But that gave me the change to go out into the world and gather knowledge. I learned from many and my knowledge grew. I even found a cure for the blue fever. After about twelve years of traveling around, I ended up here."

She had lied about two things: The fate of her village and how she acquire knowledge that didn't come from books. She had actually killed her entire village herself and consumed people heads and therefore their knowledge with a dark magic spell which created a hand of dark matter that concealed the heads of the people and when going away, the heads were gone. To be honest, even though Eskea is intelligent and beautiful, she turned out to be more evil in certain ways than the average giant.

"I also came here because of the food. People here are so tasty." She then paused for about ten seconds to wait for the look on the knight face before laughing and saying: "I am just joking. I am well aware of the rumors that humans tell about giants. My name is Eskea by the way. And yours?"

"Everyone has some story, don't they?"

Emrys clasped his gloved hands together and rested his face on them--one of his typical thinking positions. "Sometimes we tell our story so much that, we lose track of what was real and what was not. We try to become what we cannot be, but, in the end, reality catches up with us." He closed his eyes and memories quickly flooded back--a siege upon a Xar-ian city, the horrified looks of the children as their fathers were murdered left and right before their eyes. And that boy... that dark haired boy... The expression on his face--the memory brought a faint chill to the knight's spine.

He opened his eyes and looked at the giantess again. She had just told him her life story, though, Emrys suspected, that it wasn't the entire truth.

Legends of the cure for blue fever had actually existed for centuries: a mixture of a particular violet flower and a pinch of magic--the exact details had been lost in the more recent decades. Simply finding the cure wasn't exactly plausible. The knight continued to eye the giantess. But, he also thought, everyone is entitled to their own secrets.

He was about to continue musing around his own thoughts when he paused--he had just been asked a question and had nearly forgotten. "Ahahaha, I can't believe I haven't introduced myself--so sorry!" He extended his right hand, "Emrys, Emrys Nicholas. I truly don't mind whether you call me 'Emrys' or 'Nicholas'--my name doesn't really matter anyways. And, might I add, if it is tasty people you are looking for, you are probably looking for Gorda--the next town over. The people here are far too scrawny and rugged to be appetizing!"

A commotion had shaken the city. Bedlis Nainnan scanned the crowd from his balcony, his eyes shifting from person to person. "What a rowdy crowd. Could they be any noisier!" He barked out a frustrated order towards the mumbling mob "Hey! Commoners, please, I am trying to enjoy the scenery of our lovely city. But your behavior stains its glory with pettiness! Calm down will you? I Sergeant Bedlis Nainnan command you, in the name of the nation!" He felt disdain, not towards them, but towards how a person could become a whispering sob when he was surrounded amongst peers.

Bedlis walked down from his white decorated balcony, jumping straight and using fire to propel himself upwards and break his fall, his military boots landing smoothly on the cobblestone floor beneath. The mob just gave him disaproving glares of anger, amongst the citizens he heard whispered "Unbelievable, and these people are supposed to be our protectors!" Bedlis flinched at the remark, and reacted "That I am! I protect you because I feel like it, you should be grateful, and here you are criticising me! Ungrateful cur." He shouldered the man and made his way towards the seasoned tavern that seemed to be causing the commotion.

Bedlis now stood at the foot of the tavern, staring at the huge worn down wooden door, which was densely populated by holes and cracks. Bedlis turned around, now facing the citizens, and told them "What a ragged place! How can you people stand this? I would have demolished it and rebuilt it by now, that much I know for sure." he said with a haughty tone. Looking back to the door, he gently landed his hand, clad in a white glove on the door, and without as much as a look, he gave an order to the mob "Dismissed, nothing to see here commoners. Return to your business. It is the job of the city guard to handle this kind of contingencies." He suddenly turned to the gate guardsmen, and spoke to them with a bossy tone "You four, with me! The rest of you, remain alert, those bloody imperials could show their faces at any moment now." The remaining guards whispered amongst themselves "Why won't that idiot shut up?... he just got here and now he acts like he owns the place."

Bedlis barely heard what the guard were saying, but he managed to make sense of it, replying "I am your superior, soldier. You belong to the city guard, I belong to the national army! You should now better than to question me! Even though we both work for justice, there is a hierarchy, understood?" The guard at which the snappy reply was directed to did not answer, just turned the other way around. Bedlis bit his lip, and barked in anger "Your rudeness is uncalled for! I will not tolerate it! An insult is what it is!" Bedlis focused, he then began searching the depths of his soul. Inside of his soul, he began listening, for the living beat of his spirit. Once he had found it, he tensed his body, just as his spirit was being tensed, to open the conduits within his soul that would allow for his magic power to be released. Once he felt he had it, he raised his gloved hand in the air, and with a angry cry squeezed his own spiritual power free through his hand. Immediately a large crimson sphere, easily half his size, noisily began hissing over his hand. Bedlis' body twitched, as the orb of sheer magical power was lit in fire in an instant. He threatened the guard "I dislike those who disrespect others without any given reason! You did not have the right to ignore me, but that did not stop you. Well, then this will surely have you reconsider next time you are about to insult others!"

With a fierce cry, he hurled the large fire sphere into the blue heavens, before it exploded with a thundering roar. His face had a smug smile drawn onto it, he haughtily looked down to the guard and said "Remember this. And never harass anyone again." The guard was frozen in the spot with fear. Bedlis paid no heed to it and continued signaling the four he had singled out earlier on "You, come here, we are going in. Be on alert, hope for the best, fight for the worst." With that his now bodyguards replied "Yes sir! We saw a giantess earlier, she wanted to do the city a service, so we let her in. Perhaps we should not have?" Bedlis face was lit with a shaken expression, he said "You did what?!"

Standing over the stone walls, the guard captain looked down with disapproval at Bedlis and told him "She was an exceptional giantess, none here has the right of denying her the right to be here. I will take responsibility." Bedlis pretended not to have heard him and open the door to the tavern, his four city guards following him. He came to the bartender with an intimidating glare, to which the later placed no importance. After a brief silence, still nothing had happened, so Bedlis closed his fist and noisily slammed it into the seasoned wooden table. The bartender still continued to ignore him, cleaning a stained glass with a clean white cloth. Bedlis finally spoke up "I am looking for a giant, citizen. Where is she?" the Bartender put down the glass, and stared at Bedlis right in the eye with tenacity "I make no such distinctions with my customers. When you come here, you come to drink, regardless of who you are." Bedlis lost his temper and yelled "Answer me, damn it! Your city may be in danger, we do not have time for this bravado nonsense!" His tone was loud enough for it to be heard throughout the bar and its back rooms.

"Nah. I don't eat people. Anyways, it is at least somewhat peaceful in this area. A day or two by foot and you already have the borders of the warzone. A senseless war it is. That so called Xar empress, thinks she is safe on her throne. But I heard rumors that no one knows of her whereabouts and that she hadn't started the war but her generals started the war in her absence." Eskea said.

Suddenly she felt a poke in her back. There was a man with a dagger trying to stab through her thick skin. "Aww. How cute. A little human wants to hurt me." Eskea said and grabbed the man by his collar, picking him off the ground. "I could throw you against the ceiling or crush you like a bug. But because I am a nice woman, I will just give you a warning." She then tossed him onto the ground. "Do not mess with me." Eskea said. The man then said: "All giants should just die! Filthy human eating beings!" "You aren't worth my time." Eskea answered.

Emrys' lip curved slightly. "I'm glad you don't eat people. Unfortunately, I don't think you should have said that here. The additional fear might have kept them at bay a little longer." He looked towards the other shady characters around the hall. Many were beginning to get out of their seats, brandishing a variety of daggers--some nearly two thirds the length of the knight's sword. "I'm also glad that you are nice! Unfortunately, scaring just one man is going to do nothing about the others--each man thinks he's better than the next, it's a guy thing."

He picked up his shield--which was also his sword's sheath--and was about unsheathe his blade when the hall tender broke in.

"Hey, you guys wanna' rough it up? Do it outside!" He rose, a large and muscular dark skinned man, and, while not nearly as large as the giantess, he had an axe in hand. Blood--probably pig's--still dripping from the axe's edges.

Emrys gave the tender a weak smile of 'Thanks'. He didn't return the smile.

Then, one of the other men flipped a coin towards the tender, who caught the coin with surprising speed. The light haired knight frowned as he watched several of the thugs toss coins over to the dark man. The large man snatched the coins out of the air and nodded, stepping through the hall's back door and out of the room, leaving Emrys and Eskea alone--with nearly twenty, rather unfriendly looking figures.

The knight sighed and drew his sword out from his shield. He turned to Eskea, "Fight or flight?"

Bedlis was staring down the hall tender, trying to intimidate him into cooperation, the tender's brown eyes stared back at Bedlis with surprising defiance. Bedlis slowly told him with a menacing tone "Bedlis Nainnan, sergeant of the Nation's Army, commands you to obey." The tender sighed, walked back next to the wine barrel, and raised a bloodied axe, brandishing it menacingly. Some of the patrons had started getting off their seats and leaving the building. The more obscure looking ones however, chuckled and grinned at the scene that was occurring in the midst of the seasoned wooden hall. Making wagers with all sorts of currencies, and sloppily drinking their booze with alacrity.

Bedlis quickly caught up to what was unfurling before him, and jumped back. He said "Don't do somethin-" he landed on his butt rather gracelessly. The pathetic act was received with scornful laughter from some of the shady looking patrons on the corners of the hall. The dark skinned Hall Tender simply sighed, and said "Now, now boy. Don't get so excited, this has nothing to do with you." He sniggered at Bedlis, before making his way to the back door. Bedlis was about fed up with the condescending patrons and Hall Tender. So he quickly got on his feet, speaking with a loud voice "Oh no you don't mister. I am not done talking yet!" The tender ignored him and opened a backdoor.

"Hey, you guys wanna' rough it up? Do it outside!" Commanded the Hall Tender. Bedlis finally caught a glimpse of what he was looking for. A giantess was there alright, in the back of the room, accompanied by a well armed knight it seemed.

Bedlis understood two things from this course of events. First, the Hall Tender had diffused a fight. Second, the Hall Tender had given up on testing his patience, and had finally led him to the room where the Giantess was. Bedlis smirked, before flipping a coin towards the Hall Tender "Good choice, tender." As soon as he started to walk towards the two outlandish travelers, he heard the sound of more coins being flipped. He tried to get a grasp of what was happening "What?-" He then noticed a knocked out man in the floor. "Oh! Not good."

He wanted to interrogate both travelers, and find out what they were after, but having them being hurt by a bunch of cutthroats was not what he had in mind. They would first have to deal with the aggressive looking thugs, before he arrested them and took them for questioning. He turned to his four guards, and noticed they were not around anymore, they were probably waiting for him in the other room, quite probably drinking some booze themselves. "Damn" he muttered to himself, he would wait to see how the two travelers reacted before doing anything to help them, he would act after they did.

It was just then that Emrys noticed that there had been another man with the the Hall Tender. He was clad in an ornate military black coat with gold ornaments. The knight smirked and muttered, half to Eskea and half to himself, "It seems as though we've been joined by a commander of the military. Perhaps we won't have to get in a fight so early."

There was a loud boom. Perhaps the Commander has some big men with him, Emry thought. Another boom echoed through the room, followed by a third, then a fourth. The military man was yelling something about evacuating and keeping the walls steady. Then, the drinking hall's front door cracked and flew across the room, smashing against the bar--directly in front of the commander--and breaking into four pieces which landed on the floor with three loud thumps. Maybe, I spoke too soon.

For a moment, just the sound of the thumps echoed through the hall. Or maybe that was just an earthquake, Emrys thought a little hopefully.

The silence was broken as a large man--arguably as large as the giantess--trudged into the room. His skin was mostly tinged slightly red, with blotches of pure red here and there. He had thick arms and carried a large butcher blade in his right hand and a circular shield, with a radius of about 3 feet, in his left hand; a larger blade was slid through the back of his belt. Upon seeing the giantess, the man grinned revealing a set of unhumanly sharp teeth.

At that, Emrys frowned--only partially because of the bit of flesh caught between the man's front teeth and his bad breath. He recognized the sharp teeth and rusty skin tone. An Oni, the knight thought, And a tween aged one at that. Things were about to get serious. Emrys mused, At least it isn't an adult.

Then, a tiny scarecrow thin man squeezed past the Oni and into the room. The hair on his head was slightly thinning from age, but the same did not apply to his mustache which curved wickedly. He was dressed lavishly in a slick white coat and equally white trousers; the coat was adorned with glistening, gold buttons. A tall white hat sat on the top of his head and a single eyeglass glistened on his right eye. This time, the knight was confused. Oni didn't typically travel with thin and small men, they typically used those men like toothpicks. The man smirked, eying Eskea through his left eye. "It seems as though I've found the giantess we've been looking for!" Then, he seemed to notice Emry and the Commander for the first time. He stared at the two, slightly emotionless, and reached into his coat, pulling out and checking a small device.

A pocket sundial, the knight realized. That's experimental technology; how did he--

"We have enough time." The man slid the sundial back into his pocket and grinned wildly at the two. A purplish glow encased his hand. "It also seems as though we have the misfortune of being with two witnesses." He paused again--for effect. "A misfortune for them. A fortuitous event for us--Ilfang was getting a bit hungry anyways!"

Bedlis felt his heart pump faster, his ears started ringing as he got ready for a fight against the rowdy collection of thugs that stood armed all throughout the hall. A buzzing sound began to vibrate, he eyed a glass that lied in the table, it was still, and yet steadily but slowly started shaking, producing a buzzing sound of its own. Looking to the ceiling, he noticed the lamps were notoriously swinging about. With a determined look on his eyes, he then commander everyone on the room "Earthquake, try to leave the building if you can, I'll stay here and see if I can hold the walls in place!"

He let one knee touch the ground, and took a deep breath and closed his eyes. His soul immediately reacted to his command, releasing a whirlwind of magical power all throughout his body, he felt burning sensations all throughout his body, Bedlis groaned in pain. A blueish aura began to fade in around him, with a thunderous sound about it. He opened his eyes, which glowed with a light blue hue, ready to hold the walls with his psychokinesis should the building collapse. He shifted his eyes to the running crowd, and though out loud "I am sure not all of them are cutthroats. Better to let them go I suppose." He took a deep breath, and was about to leave himself, when something in the corner of his eye caught his attention, two figures stood still, both clad in armor, a Knight and a giantess "Hey, I gave everyone an order, that means you too knight. And you giant, we will have a little chat when this is over, but for now run, I'd rather not stay here myself you know!? But I can't leave if you are spacing out in the middle of an earthquake!" he barked an order at the two remaining souls within the building, profoundly frustrated at their callousness towards the earthequake. At this point a thought crossed his mind, they must have been very strong to keep their cool in such a catastrophic situation.

A powerful cracking sound was heard from the door, Bedlis flinched, before quickly eyeing the door. Soon after an even louder cracking sound came from the door, which was starting to bend inwards. "Damn!-" He focused his psychokinesis to create a barrier around him. Not a moment afterwards, the massive wooden door was hurling towards him, spinning in mid air. Bedlis flinched notoriously, closing his eyes reflexively. The door shattered to four edgy pieces after jolting Bedlis' barrier with a loud smashing sound. He knew better than to still believe this was an earthquake. He glared at the door, from within the dust a massive physique was visible. Bedlis managed to appear pleasantly surprised, even if he was quite shaken in fact "Well, well. Say I was not expecting to see you here Ilfang. Did you decide to die a gentleman's death? Or surrender and rot in jail forever, or rather, I think your sentence would be execution by hanging. Although I don't think we could properly send you off. So I will take it upon me to bring you to justice!" He flashed a fake smug smirk, and a short chuckle. Looking down, he found the gawky man that had just arrived to meet them. "It seems as though I've found the giantess we've been looking for!" the small man stated, appearing to be quite pleased and relaxed.

Bedlis, bat his eyes in confusion, before replying "Oh? you are after her too? Then I may have misjudged her, I was certain she was working for you. Since last time we met you told me- nevermind." He got up to his feet, he knew this would be the toughest fight he had ever been in. "Draschieder" he said to the little man, "if I die, I will be sure to take you with me." He eyed the Knight and the Giantess that were standing in the other side of the hall "You two, help me take out these monsters." Directing his attentive look to the two newcomer invaders, Ilfang and Draschieder, before speaking to the Giantess and the Knight "I know you don't know me. But believe me, these guys can more than handle themselves in a fight. And I don't really know you either, but if you help me handle them, you would have more than proven your innocence in my eyes." He began pacing back, before adding "they are the Mafia here, in case you were wondering. And no, they are not exactly local, their influence has a corruptive pull on the entire province. So don't just stand around, do something!" That's when he felt the sharp pain for the first time, he looked to his leg, which had a piece of wood stabbed into it, he exclaimed "Oh bugger, that is so not going to heal." He yelled for help "Knight, Giantess, I am wounded- my leg you see!" The pain was kicking in, but the adrenaline coursing through his system still held it suppressed, he knew that would not last very long however, he was in trouble.

At the sound of his name, Drashieder paused. It was dark in the hall, making it difficult to discern the identities of the various characters present. In the room were about twenty thugs--they were all working for him--, insignificant. There was an armored man, probably some wandering knight--there were so many of those around these days--, the giantess that he'd been hunting--for quite the bounty--, and another character standing behind the bar in the corner. That was the man who had called Drashieder by his name. He had proceeded to mutter to himself and launch orders--seemingly at the armored man and the giantess; A futile effort, the mustached man noted silently. But, he recognized the voice and it, quite frankly, killed his smile. It was the voice of the boy who had, more than once, attempted to foil his plans--and who had succeeded once: Lieutenant Bedlis Nainnan.

Then, Nainnan cried out--his leg had been pierced by a large splinter of wood. The curves quickly returned to Drashieder's lips. This day may actually be more pleasing expected!

"Well, well, if it isn't our little Lieutenant!" He spat each syllable of the last words out like acid. "What a pleasant surprise!"

A large round stone, about the size of a cannonball materialized in his palm--his Sessho-Seki, a killing stone. Fortunately, for its targets, the stone didn't kill instantly upon touch; unfortunately, the Sessho-Seki had a habit of bludgeoning it's targets to death--more painful, more messy, and equally effective.

Laughing, he threw the Sessho-Seki at the injured Lieutenant. "I've always wanted to kill three birds with one stone!"
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One word echoed through Emry's mind: Crap! It had been years since he last saw a Sessho-Seki--Though traditional beliefs described them as killing instantly, Emry knew otherwise. Those things left nasty messes and left their targets even nastier. The moment that he had heard the military man call out in pain, the knight knew things were going to be bad. He didn't need the scrawny man summon a killing stone.

The white clad knight was the first to react. The moment that the Sessho-Seki left Drashieder's--the name that the Lieutenant had used--palm, time seemed to slow. Of course, time wasn't really slowing--as time magic had been lost many millenia ago. The knight's sword began to glow a shade of sky blue, in reaction to his wind magic--wind magic, propelling him forward and giving him inhuman speed. His shield--a large tower shield--flew out a blur of white, connecting with the black rock. Several sparks shot off of the shield along with the deflected stone which flew off in the opposite direction, straight through the open door-less doorway, smashing into a man on the way out.

Not noting where the stone had gone, Emrys turned to face the short man and the Oni with him. "Eskea! The Lieutenant! Help him!"

"Now I know the shadow who has been following me. Hadn't you seen the note I left you? It said you should stop trying to capture me or so because in the end it would result in your death." Eskea said to Drashieder. She stood up and pulled her greatsword. "Why dont we free up some space so that I can fight appropriately." She tore through the roof with her sword and within a few seconds there was no roof anymore. "Your large underling should know that even an oni wouldn't stand a chance against me. And by the way, I could need some of his organs for research and my collection." Eskea said. She pulled out two jars. One had various eyes from various beings in it. The other contained a bunch of hearts, one of which was huge as if it came from a collossus."

As Eskea saw the Sessho-Seki she said: "What a weak magical attack." A dark matter formed around Eskeas sword and Eskea swiftly moved swiped her sword cutting the stone in the right moment, making both halves separate and miss the lieutenant. She then went up to the lieutenant and looked at his wounded leg. "This will hurt shortly." Eskea said and pulled out the piece of wood. With the piece of wood gone she then held her hand over the leg and a bright white light became visible. It was a healing spell. "It isn't such a critical wound. A healing spell with be able to make sure you can fight within a couple minutes again."

Eskea then turned back to the oni. He seemed to be larger than a human but still smaller than her. He only went up to her lower chest. A smirk came onto Eskeas face. "I promise you both that you wont leave this room alive and probably you will rest in pieces. The pieces will be assorted into the volcano glass jars I carry."

"Actually," the thin man mused, his smile fading, "I have seen your note." He produced a slip of paper about the size of a table cloth. He watched as she tore through the roof with her great sword.

"Your large underling should know that even an Oni wouldn't stand a chance against me. And, by the way, I could use some of his organs for my research and for my collection," the giantess said. The Sessho-Seki rocketed back into the room, bouncing off the knight's shield again but, this time, curving after being deflected and flying towards the Lieutenant--only be be split in half by the giantess' sword. Each half smashed into the wall on either side of the military man; dust flew everywhere. "What a weak magical attack."

At this, the grin returned to Drashieder's lips. This woman--clearly--has no idea what she's dealing with. He watched in amusement as the the giantess proceeded to use a healing spell on the the Lieutenant. Smirking, she turned to face Ilfang, "I promise you both that you wont leave this room alive and probably you will rest in pieces. The pieces will be assorted into the volcano glass jars I carry."

Now, Drashieder could no longer stifle his laugh. He laughed uncontrollably for a full ten seconds before regaining his composure. He wiped at his tears, "I'm sorry--couldn't contain myself. That was quite the speech, Giantess."
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Emrys had watched in a slight amazement as Eskea tore through the roof. But, when she had split the Sessho-Seki and stated that it was a weak spell, the knight had lost his amazement. A Sessho-Seki is a demonically enchanted rock. In legends, only one stone had existed. They had said that any who touched the rock would fall dead in an instant. While the latter was false, the former had some truth in it--originally there had only been one Sessho-Seki, but, that number had multipled because, upon being split... Emrys glanced at the scrawny man. He was grinning. Crap. He knows. The light haired man rolled his grey eyes. This just keeps getting better and better.
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"I'm actually quite glad that you destroyed my stone," Drashieder mused aloud. "Not just anyone can do that." He silently noted the slight rumbling noise in the walls where the halves of the Sessho-Seki had fallen. No one but he had knowledge of the true abilities of the stones--it was a object from a foreign continent, no one payed attention to those legends. "Unfortunately, you seem to have underestimated Ilfang's capabilities."

He patted the Oni's red skinned arm. "Do you want to know 'Why neither you nor anyone else for that matter have not collected Oni specimen'?". The man looked at the Giantess but didn't wait for an reply, "It's because Oni are illusionary beings--they don't have a single true physical form."

As if on cue, Ilfang began to grow in size, his head quickly towered above the Giantess'. "Oh, I must thank you for destroying the roof--you certainly allowed for me to 'shed some light on the situation'!" A few moments later, Ilfang stopped enlarging and he was at least twice the giantess' size.

Meanwhile, the rumbling in the walls had subsided. Dashieder flashed his teeth in another grin. "I guess I'll reward you by making this quick!"

The large red Oni swung his also-enlarged blade horizontally. Then, the two walls erupted and two large round stones rocketed towards the giantess.

Bedlis was unamused at how everything how turned out, staring at his gaping wound on his leg This is so never going to heal. The floor shook a little, loud steps resonated within the brown wooden building. Bedlis rased his eyes, where he saw a quite terrifying visage, the giantess was sprinting towards him. He put his hands onward in a reflex, to protect himself against the giantess that was approaching him. Everything shook, as he was lifted off the ground, his belly began to tickle as the vertigo kicked in, he then heard something "This will hurt shortly.". He blinked in confusion for a second, before catching up to what was happening, he took a deep breath, and said "Do what you must, I can handle the pain." He tightened his jaw in preparation for the stinging sensation he was sure that was to follow. He was not wrong of course, as soon his senses seemed to blur together in agony. He repressed a grunt. He took his eyes to the floor, as the glistering orangish wooden floor drew closer, his leg healing at astounding speed, as he could feel the flesh weaving itself together with impressive precision and speed.

His boots made a clicking sound with the floor, and he lifted his eyes to meet the giantess' eyes. Bedlis' green eyes were lit with gratitude and friendliness, he could see the giantess' massive golden eyes, he drew a friendly smile to his face, and without words conveyed the Giantess his gratitude, as well as his newfound friendliness towards her. His sight abruptly shifted the Knight ahead of him, he ran towards the armor clad man, and placed a hand over his shoulder "Thank you sir, you saved my life." He took shelter behind the armor clad knight. From Bedlis' point of view, he could see the hulking figure of the red blotted, crimson colored Oni ahead of him. He took a good look at his face, huge horns spiraled over his head, his face was round and populated by two massive eyes, his teeth were sharper than Bedlis would have liked. He tried to maintain his balance as the ground shook under him. "Whoa! Say this gentleman looks dreadful!" Unable to maintain balance over the vibrating floor, Bedlis saw the ground shake violently and immediately seeming to get closer very quickly, all he saw before he closed his eyes was orange woor, he hit the ground with a smacking sound. He groaned and opened his eyes, which displayed a deeply unamused visage. He placed his gloved hands on the floor in front of him, and lifted himself up from the floor, the Giantess was still there where she healed him, he got his feet and hastily looked back. "Ah Knight! I have an idea, I saw that marvelous wind magic of yours, think that could hold my fire in around your blade?!"

He raised his hand, darkening the light that that was impacting his eyes, and continued "I will conjure a potent fire sphere as best as I can right now, see if you can use your wind magic to keep it in place around your blade." His eyes shifted to the giantess "Giant, see if you can overpower that large Oni with your strength, then the Knight can deliver the final blow. I will summon purifying fire, it is extremely difficult to aim, but if the knight cloaks his sword with it using his wind magic, a swift slice should take care of that Oni, but for that the Oni needs to be on the floor, otherwise a swing from that beast could make things quite painful And don't worry purifying fire is a special sort, very unruly, but it hurts dark creatures where they live! It should be the fastest way to take care of the Oni. We can then focus our attention the little madman on the back!" A piece of the Sessho-Seki then flew quickly to their direction. Bedlis raised his right gloved hand, as it glowed with blue light, the Sessho-Seki piece was suddently stop in its tracks. Bedlis had used his warp psychokinesis.

He panted with exhaustion, and lowered his free hand, as a crimson hue faded in around it, it trembled for six seconds, before it violently burned with potent golden purifying fire. He eyed his two comrades, "This about does it! We should get started." From the roof, he could see a three headed crow making its way to the tavern, "And keep an eye out for the newcomer, he might or might not be working for the enemy. Let us handle Ilfang first, Drashieder later and see who that gentleman above the crow is afterwards."

"Illusionary beings eh? Nothing that can stop me then." Eskea said as a black shadow door formed under her. She sunk into the ground into the dark void evading the attack. The shadow door disappeared and suddenly a large black shadow hand of colossal size erupted from the ground. Then crawling like a fluid up the oni. "Even illusionary beings do not stand a chance against the darkest shadows." Eskeas voice echoed in the area. Making out the direction of the voice wasn't possible. The shadows were so dark that it seemed to be consuming light.

"Drashieder will be next. Consuming his mind could be helpful." Eskea said.

"Whoa! Say this gentleman looks dreadful!"

Emrys couldn't help but grin at the Lieutenant's remark. Indeed, Oni were distasteful creatures--though, there was the occasional kind and wise Oni. This particular Oni, Ilfang, was definitely not one of the kind Oni. He was a demon Oni from the tip of his horns to the stench of his toes. That smell certainly didn't improve with size. The light haired man had to resist the urge to disgorge his breakfast. "Hey, any ideas on how to take this guy down?"

From behind the red skinned creature, Drashieder cackled, "Just because it's an illusionary creature, don't think that it can't kill you--it's attacks are very real!"

"Ah, Knight!" Emrys heard the lieutenant exclaim. "I have an idea. I saw that marvelous wind magic of yours; think that could hold my fire in around your blade?!"

The knight ducked beneath a swing from the Oni's blade and swung his shield, deflecting a regenerating Sessho-Seki piece. He leapt back to where the lieutenant was, "I'm not very good with the magic and all..." He blocked another blow from the Oni's sword. Emrys turned to the lieutenant, determination in expression, "But, I'll try."

The lieutenant raised his hand, "I will conjure a potent fire sphere as best as I can right now, see if you can use your wind magic to keep it in place around your blade". His eyes shifted to the giantess, "Giant, see if you can overpower that large Oni with your strength, then the Knight can deliver the final blow. I will summon purifying fire, it is extremely difficult to aim, but if the knight cloaks his sword with it using his wind magic, a swift slice should take care of that Oni." He raised his hand and another Sessho-Seki piece froze in the air. Panting with exhaustion, he lowered his free hand and a crimson hue appeared around it.

Meanwhile, the giantess enshrouded herself in darkness and a colossal hand of shadows erupted from the ground--slowly crawling up the red-skinned creature.

The Oni groaned, the dark liquid-like arm slowly encasing it and restricting its movement. The creature began shrinking.

Eskea's voice echoed in the shadows, "Drashieder will be next. Consuming his mind could be helpful".

"Ah, can't have you doing that." The small man chimed, "Naughty, naughty little Oni-friskies." From his extended fingertips, four white sparks fluttered, like small butterflies, slowly towards the hand of darkness.

The butcher blade swished feebly through the air. Emrys twisted his body, barely evading a second--unfrozen--Sessho-Seki piece, deflecting the Oni's blade with his shield, and lashing at the creature's arm with his blade. With a howl, the red skinned creature dropped it's knife. The knight balanced himself; from the corner of his eye, he could see a potent golden purifying fire blazing.

"This about does it! We should get started," the lieutenant called out.

"Roger that!" The light haired knight jumped over to the lieutenant and extended his glowing blade. Slowly the flames began to encircle Emrys' sword.

"And keep an eye out for the newcomer," the military man added as the shadow of a bird passed over the two. "He might or might not be working for the enemy."

Just as the knight was about to nod, everything took a turn for a possible worse. The four shining butterflies had reached the Oni--now encased nearly up to the chest in shadows and only equal to the giantess in size--. Upon impact, each exploded in a flash of bright light. The light shredded the darkness, leaving several large holes in the shadows. The humanoid creature snorted approvingly. Tossing it's shield to the side, Ilfang drew it's second sword--this one was longer and clearly sharper.

A Talwar, Emrys recognized.

Then, the Oni launched into the air, leapt off a wall, and somersaulted into the air with the grace of a ballerina. It's blade began glowing a purplish hue.

Emrys corrected himself. A Demonic Talwar. He turned to the lieutenant, "Uhm, Commander? I think we have a problem."