"Stand behind me!" Shi DaMao quickly shoved ZhuQiu behind him and began to strike his own palm into a fast approaching dagger brandishing attacker, instantly killing him.
ZhuQiu forced herself into battle calm mode she had always fantasize about doing, and pretended she was in one of a mmorpg games she used to watch pro gamers play. She reached behind her and grasped the handle of the machete she created and pulled out with a flourish.
Hearing blade being unsheathed behind him, Shi DaMao threw her a look of disbelief but was forced to continue fighting off another two attackers.
ZhuQiu felt it was better to face a little away fro Shi DaMao, and immediately see a possible target for her machete. She swiftly danced forward and slashed at the person's blade.
"Why are you aiming for the blade?! Aim for the head, idiot!" Shi DaMao would have swat her on the head if he wasn't in a constant fight.
"Understood, general!" ZhuQiu inner self panicked calmness toss a random reply she had often heard in certain pro gamer's stream. She began to let herself aim a stab for the torso. It struck causing her target leaking blood, but they did not want to die without dragging her with them so they swung their sword at her. ZhuQiu, who already gotten used to having steel limbs, simply slap the blades away and kicked the person off her machete. He collapsed but did not die, giving his spot away to the next attacker.
ZhuQiu did not allow herself to rejoice on her first victory and then began to engage with her new opponent. But her luck ran out, the next opponent wasn't an amateur. He carelessly hit her machete away with a short blade and then revealed a gun-like device in his other hand. He fired twice. ZhuQiu flinched at the loud weird firing sound and, miraculously, the projectile ricochet off her arms.
ZhuQiu did not want to give him a chance, and slash again with her machete, this time hitting squarely on the attacker's shoulders. Then something grabbed at her leg. ZhuQiu made a mistake of looking down and saw her previous 'victim' furiously holding onto her ankles, trying to hack at her shins to no avail. A heavy blow hit her on the chest and she stumbled backwards. She lost her machete.
Her two opponents, having gained themselves, showed a triumphant sneer and one of them aimed a dagger at her abdomen, where her spirit core lies. She lost her courage and desperately tried to shield her vulnerabilities with her metal arms. The dagger was thrown but never hit the mark.
Shi DaMao roared at ZhuQiu's idiocy as he fight off her two 'victims', "I said, aim for the head. Are you that suicidal?"
Shi DaMao's rage did not turn the tables. The two attackers, burning with desire to get back their kill, attacked fiercely in a tacit understanding manner. Shi DaMao was forced back, almost tripping over ZhuQiu who stumbled again after hastily trying to get up.
A projectile pierced Shi DaMao on his arm. ZhuQiu panicked and looked around to see everyone fighting back the attackers. There wasn't much help to be offered. ZhuQiu picked up a random rock and decide to distract the two attackers instead. She hit one on he face successfully, but he wasn't hindered.
Losing hope, ZhuQiu decide that she should really just give up her life and let Shi DaMao escape. That way, Space Pirates would lose an useless disciple rather than losing a strong master.
"Run, master Shi!" ZhuQiu threw herself in the middle of the two and violently use all her edges to hurt the attackers, while blocking their blades from connecting with flesh. She tried to pushed them away and was greeted by a burst of flames. The two attackers was momentarily shocked and backed up a little. ZhuQiu finally invoked her Fire Spiritual Root power!
ZhuQiu tried to invoke it again, but nothing come of it. And the two attackers came even nearer and lashed out.
Shi DaMao wasn't touched by her sacrifice, he was more furious. He reflexively grabbed her and spun her away from the fray, exposing his back at the incoming blades. He was struck and spat blood.
ZhuQiu stared wide-eyed at the injured master who was supposed to be shielded by her steel and plastic self. Has Shi DaMao lost his mind during the fight? Does he not know that she had better chance of survival after being slashed at than if he was injured?
It was Shi DaMao's turn to collapse onto his knees, but he wouldn't let ZhuQiu push him away. He tried to shield her more instead. ZhuQiu inwardly confirmed that he had lost his intelligence and was absolutely scared out of her mind. What can she do now? She can almost see the two attackers bringing their bladed weapons down again onto Shi DaMao's back.
Their savior came in earth-shaking stomp.
Everyone turned to see a big humanoid robots wordlessly tossing away the attacker that sprung out of the trees. It seemed to be on Space Pirate's team as it attacked with terrible god-like wrath.
Upon seeing the massive angry android, ZhuQiu surprisingly did not gawk. She quickly pushed Shi DaMao away and he easily fell off. ZhuQiu quickly catch him before he intimately made contact with the ground and laid him on his stomach, considering his wounds are severe on his back.
"Master don't die, I'll get in trouble, ah!" ZhuQiu tried to pacify her Martial Arts master in case he would bring this grudge against her on their next lesson.
"Idiot. You finally realize this? I've already paid the price of your idiocy!" Shi DaMao spat more blood. ZhuQiu not sure if it was because she infuriated him or it was because he couldn't hold back his injury.
"Master, my body is not made of flesh. You could have at least take that into consideration before defending me." ZhuQiu felt wronged at his accusation.
"Aw, quit your flirtatious banter." SuanNi pushed pulled out his sword from someone lying at his feet. "Time to call some healers out."
ZhuQiu felt as if she had been caught breaking a law and stood up a little too quickly and bumped onto someone rushing towards Shi DaMao. "Oof—" ZhuQiu turned around abruptly to find that she had knocked the air out of JiaoTu.
ZhuQiu repeatedly apologize as she helped JiaoTu up. JiaoTu responded by waving her hand to indicate she was alright and hastily knelt before Shi DaMao to heal him.
ZhuQiu stood back with guilt written all over her as everyone picked their fallen comrade up and limped into the space vehicle. Some required immediate medical attention, thus laying as healers rushed to stabilize them. Then something happened to Shi DaMao that got ZhuQiu staring blankly.
The cruel, now mentally challenged, master that have been beating her in duel full of grudges is actually... the little cute white stripped toyger.
ZhuQiu watched in shocked as Shi DaMao slowly lost consciousness and shrank dramatically. White and grey short fur sprouted from his skin and the whiskers popped out of his eyebrows and mouth corners. The palms squashed into a tiny paw, with sharp kitten claws. Worse of all is that, his wound looked even more terrible.
ZhuQiu stared at the spot even after the fainted toyger was already taken away to be put into the ward of the space vehicle. She could not move, her mind shut down, and she could not hear Bi'An calling out to her.
"Autumn Chaser." Bi'An tried to nudge ZhuQiu who was still frozen with unblinking eyes. It had seemed she had become a statue without a soul.
Bi'An helplessly looked at the YaZi, who stood nearby. He shrugged and jerked his head towards looming figure by the entrance, urging Bi'An to hurry. The huge robotic savior, who stood guard at the entrance, is not an android as ZhuQiu thought. It was simply a mecha with a pilot inside. The mecha's front panel was opened to reveal the pilot — a grim man with expressionless face.
Bi'An had no choice but to force ZhuQiu by half dragging, hald carrying her into the space vehicle. The last to enter was the mecha pilot. The door shut firmly behind him, giving off a serious ominous atmosphere.
Everyone who wasn't badly injured was attending to the injured and the patients in the ward. There was only a total of one death.
ZhuQiu couldn't snap back to herself, thus being lead by Bi'An into her dorm to lay down and rest. ZhuQiu still hadn't stop staring blankly. She felt lied to, but this kind of lie is too big!
So, Shi DaMao actually had a huge grudge because he, a master, was being treated like a pet by a disciple. How shameful, ah! ZhuQiu couldn't figure why he changed and started treating her sincerely after that. Not only that, but Bi'An and the rest knew clearly who he is! She also suddenly noticed that Shi DaMao and the little kitty had never actually been sighted together in the same place at the same time. The clue pierced themselves before her eyes of fading denial.
ZhuQiu then suddenly remembered, the fire power and how it flashed when she pushed at the attackers. She had done the same when 'Nightmare' attacked, and how the little kitty's fur was blackened. Shi DaMao was the one who feint at her that night! Hence, there was no sign of the actual Nightmare. ZhuQiu suddenly felt like she lost something important. She had actually felt bonded with the little kitty to find out it was her crazy master.
Lamentable, lamentable.
ZhuQiu finally woke up from her churning thoughts and went out to find that everyone was busy. She remembered that she was supposed to assist BaXia, and she made a beeline for the smithy. There are a lot of disciples hammering away at the glowing metal on anvils. The sound was so loud and ear splitting, but no one stopped working. ZhuQiu quickly find a work to do and joined the rest in hammering away at the red hot metal on her anvil.
***
"Since you've gotten affinity for fire, that mean you feel that that it is your protection against danger. To invoke it, try to use the feeling you had when you have actually used it." ChaoFeng, the leodine male she first met with Bi'An back then, spread his furry palms and a small flicker of flames danced.
ZhuQiu looked with awe and tried to mimic it, spreading her palms, trying to recall the fear she had when the 'Nightmare' attack her. Nothing happened. ZhuQiu looked at ChaoFeng in disappointment.
"It takes time. It takes trial and error. It's something personal and you have to figure it out by yourself. But common emotions can involve desire to protect, or desire to reject and change a reality. It might be specific for some, it might be very loosely defined for some." ChaoFeng urged her to retry it.
ZhuQiu looked at her steel palms and tried to recall other possible emotions, desire to protect herself. Nothing.
Desire to deny the reality? Nothing.
Hmm, desire to turn the tables? Nope.
What about desire to reject death? Yeah? Oh... Nope.
ZhuQiu stared at her own cold fingers in disappointment. Then what was it? She closed her eyes and tried to re-imagine the 'Nightmare' attack. The fear of being spotted. The crazy leap it took towards her. The desire to continue to live. The desire to protect herself. The desire to stop someone from causing pain. The desire to undo her actions that got her in trouble. Crackle.
ZhuQiu opened her eyes and stared at the now warm fingers licked by flames. Oh. Was it the desire to undo her actions that got her in trouble then?
ZhuQiu felt that it was the answer and looked at ChaoFeng with excitement.
"There you go! Now try turning it off."
ZhuQiu then stared blankly. Turning it off? Like turning a water tap off? or like switching lights off? ZhuQiu stared at the fire on her hands and mentally told it to stop. the fire was still licking her fingers. Ai ya....
After half a day, ZhuQiu finally gotten the fire to disappear. It was more like telling it that it was no longer needed.
ZhuQiu felt mentally exhausted and was about to ask Shi DaMao if it was time to rest and then froze.
Shi DaMao was still in the ward. He had regained his humanoid shape but not quite. The feline ears twitched occasionally to show sign of life. It also twitched when ZhuQiu secretly touched it once to see if it's actually attached to his head. It was real.
ZhuQiu sat blankly for a while then forced a grin. Hey, at least there was no one to order her around and force her to be unproductive for few hours! ZhuQiu, filled with fiery motivation, decided to practice summoning and dismissing her fire.
Soon, she found out that it was her desire to stop someone from causing pain that triggered the flames into life. Then when there was no longer threats, the fire naturally snuffed itself off.
ZhuQiu practiced this many times to make sure and to familiarize herself with the process. Having been fruitful, she could rest easier.
***
Scouts were sometimes sent to gather and survey the area every once in a while, although they did not dare to venture too deep into the forest. ZhuQiu managed to join once, and found it a little too lacking.
A majority of the scouts are the stronger cultivators who had already attained great martial arts skill. A mecha would always be bringing up the rear, to watch out for any sneak attacks. The front group would slowly feel out the most safest route. The side flanks would be tensed with posture that suggested that they're ready to fight. The center, usually where a couple of researchers or intellectual expert who would inspect and pick the ingredients the Space Pirate needed.
ZhuQiu, although she was comparable in cultivation ranks with the vanguards, she wasn't well-versed in martial arts, therefore she had to be placed in the center.
The journey was just too swift and intense for ZhuQiu to fully appreciate the surroundings and bright floral species. She wasn't that entitled to slow everyone down and risk their lives for a couple of sightseeing seconds. So she didn't join the scouting trips anymore.
ZhuQiu spend her days in two equal parts; assisting in the smithy and practicing her martial at diligently while trying to incorporate various fire attacks. She experiments with her Spiritual Roots power so much that she could feel her cultivation core increased it's rank by half a stage without much meditation. She planned to keep this up, not only because of that, but to also prevent her from overthinking during her supposedly break time.
