In just a split second Ashka had faded into a phantom of red mist, of the same shape and form as his elegant feminine figure. A presence then had announced itself behind her, it was the very same Ashka that had announced her challenge right before her. She was ready to strike at Ciel’s neck, standing on one foot like a dancer mid-performance.

Interesting. A teleport-like skill followed directly by another skill. And that’s his opening attack! He really means to kill me… How exciting!

But none of Ashka’s efforts would not be rewarded. The events unfolded to Ciel in slow motion. She could even trace Ashka’s rapid movement as he ‘teleported’. The red mist served to distract the opponent and to capture their attention, enraging them with its magic to give opportunity to move behind the target’s back. To Ciel it was like watching a chemical reaction in slow motion, the movements of every molecule, every atom as clear as the text in a children’s book.

I don’t really feel the threat of death at all… and I’ve already decided not to kill anyone here… but I can still have some fun.

As the jade daggers closed in on Ciel’s nape she leaned forward by an inch without turning her body or stepping forward.

The daggers passed, missing Ciel by a hair’s width.

Ashka, surprised by the ridiculously effortless manner in which his opponent nullified his attack, it was one of his strongest, leaped backward in a summersault ready to evade a counter-attack which was sure to follow. Seemingly vulnerable, Ashka expected the petite and fragile-looking, but now clearly presenting as swift and dangerous Ciel to use this chance. He was ready for her with a skill that could only be executed while in mid-summersault. But when he landed, three striking length’s away from Ciel, the counter-attack had never materialised. Ciel just stood there as she had before.

“What kind of…”, Ashka had made an uncharacteristic remark mid-battle. It was sound practice not to talk or make unnecessary announcements when fighting. Such was the way of the warriors of the Night Mist tribe. The only exceptions being taunts…

Interrupting Ashka’s words, Ciel had turned her head backward to face her opponent like a horror of some depths. It was no contortion however, her feet still planted on the ground, unmoving, her hips, torso each turned in part. But the speed… the speed was not natural, and neither was Ciel’s expression. A child could not possess such bloodlust, such a demented glimmer in the eyes, that twisted smile, an inextinguishable madness, a sadness, all breaking apart the beautiful features of Ciel’s face.

Stunned, Ashka could not move. The force of his opponent’s will, the nauseating power emanating from her presence, locked every one of his muscles. He was frozen in fear.

Then Ciel was gone. Her presence simply… not there in an instant. The adult members of the Wolf Hunter tribe who were watching on were scanning their surroundings in astonishment. Ashka did not let her guard down and took on a defensive stance.

“What is this?! How could she just vanish without a trace?! Her scent, her presence… I can’t sense it. What kind of skill is this?!”, thought Ashka. Her people specialised in tracking their prey. The black cats, and the Night Mist tribe even more so, were natural assassins, their intuition rarely led them astray. There was always a track, a trace on could follow, the faint sensation of an enemy skill being used. Simple cause and effect apparent to anyone perceptive enough. But here, breaking the flow of causality, there was only the effect!

“Where is she?! Did she escape?!”, someone called out from the crowd. All eyes turned to Emica.

“Ciel, you don’t know how to hold back do you?”, Emica whispered under her breath with a vacant, concerned expression. No longer did she hold regard for the judging eyes of the black cat tribe.

Then, a rumbling from the forest behind the village. As it go louder, the earth shook beneath the feet of all gathered.

“An earthquake?!”

“Are the children safe?!”

“Is this a trick, what sorcery is this?!”

Panic begun to ripple through the village.

Nina and Sara, still bound, were struggling even more, trying to call out to Emica hopelessly through their gags.

A flickering darkness fell upon the land, the setting suns obscured by something. Something big. Something moving and thrashing about. The source of the earthquake…

“A Hypermouth”, said Ciel, inexplicably standing before Ashka again.

“It’s a mean little thing. The teeth really do hurt. I can tell you that, I had one try to take a big bite out of me not soon after my release”, she added.

“You summoned this thing here?!” exclaimed Ashka.

There was no such magic as summoning magic in this world. But the concept, the fantasy of summoning magic did exist in the old tales shared around campfires.

“You can say it’s something like it…” replied Ciel.

The Hypermouth was a mass of two hundred or so tentacles, each as thick as the trunks of the oldest trees and thrice as tall. At their origin three gaping mouths formed the core in between the roots of the tentacles, with rows of sharp grey teeth lining the internals of the creature. It seemingly had no stomach or body to speak of. It was a legendary creature, never classified by the Adventurer’s Guild. It had never set foot on the surface of this world prior to this day. Before that, it only existed in the massive dungeon which had birthed Ciel.

One of its mouths cried out, piercing the soon to be evening sky. It sounded like a woman in labour. The second mouth followed a second later, changing the pitch of the cry to something resembling a war cry of a legion of warriors. The third mouth followed, shifting the tone to a bizarre pure pitch, like that of one’s ears ringing after suffering a blow to the head. The moisture shooting out from its orifices and the Twin Suns setting behind it had rendered a double interlocked rainbow around the creature. It was truly a bizarre sight. Many of the black cat warriors, frozen in place by the looming terror before them had lost control of their bodies, urine streaming down their legs.

Emica, was seemingly unaffected by the manifest terror and its wriggling, thrashing tentacles, which were now pulling out dozens of trees, local wildlife, monsters… and feeding them to the three masticating mouths. She just looked on at Ciel as if to say “really?!”

What? I thought this would make the fight a bit more interesting…

“Let’s say I do believe you, Ciel, of the Wolf Hunter tribe…”, Ashka broke through the fear and astonishment that had walled her in.

“I made the Wolf Hunter tribe thing up”, replied Ciel bluntly.

“You made that–“

“Also I’m a Noble Vampire.”

“A vampire?! But the Suns–”

“They’re not a problem.”

“Not a problem?”

“Nope”, Ciel shrugged.

“What is it that you want from us?!”

Emica looked on at Ashka’s flabbergasted reactions with bitter empathy.

“First, declare me the winner, because I’d rather not kill you all. Second free those two,” Ciel said pointing at Nina and Sara, “and third, let me touch your ears… please.”

“My, my ears? Will you eat them?!… Whatever the case I will gladly accept, and give up my life, as long as you spare the village and that no harm comes to the children of our tribe”, replied Ashka as the Hypermouth begun to push and pull itself toward the cluster of huts.

Just as Ashka was quick on his feet, he was quick in mind too. Ciel’s claims, demands, the situation, everything made no sense. But there’s no time for questions in battle, when life and limb are on the line, there’s only action. A swift decision is often better than none when faced with great adversity or a surprise attack.

On the other side of this confrontation, any sane individual in Ciel’s position would hide their power, letting through only a little at the time, biding their time and concealing their abilities while still making an impression in order to meet their goals with minimal risk. This was the thing to do here. The rational thing. But Ciel had long lost her sanity. It was torn from her body as she broke it down again and again in her Trial. She was Insane. She was also an otaku who couldn’t resist the cure fluffy ears of a real-life catgirl… even if the said catgirl was a guy. Especially if it was a guy.

“Those are reasonable terms. I will not eat you or your ears and additionally I offer your village my protection. Your young will be safe and your people will flourish. We have a deal then?”, Ciel held out her hand.

With a look of determination Ashka grasped Ciel’s pale, delicate palm in her own. A handshake of ten clawed nails, as witnessed by the black cat tribe, Emica and two of her party. In the background the setting Twin Suns, a thrashing Hypermouth adorned with two interlocked rainbows.

Such soft skin for a warrior…

———

The Night Mist tribe would be remembered as the second ally of the Demon Lord. Second to Vmica the Eternally Vengeful. The Demon Lord’s allies and armies were to be given new life, saved from the great Calamity and freed from the grasp of the Shabal. She would teach all to navigate the stars and set the Yvullum on its eternal quest to defeat the Origin.

— Short Chronicles of Yvullum

———

“Now then, let me take care of this screeching mess of teeth!” announced Ciel as she bent down and picked up a smooth pebble from the ground.

Ciel then jumped into the air above the stunned heads of the tribe members.

“Unarmed Dreadnought Style: Extinction Comet!!”

Reaching back, she launched the pebble in the direction of the Hypermouth. Instantly a series of hexagonal gates appeared around Ciel. Two behind her, with one slightly offset, six in a ring around her, one in front of the path of the pebble, one directly in front of the Hypermouth. Additionally 26 large gates forming a shield in front of the village, half being “in” gates, leading to the other 13 “out” gates pointed at the Hypermouth. This allowed a partly-obscured view of the spectacle unfolding before of everyone.

As Ciel let go of the pebble she was thrown backward at great speed in recoil. Falling into the gate behind her she reappeared in the offset gate which directed her right back into the first gate. It was a loop. Ciel was using the gates and air resistance to slow herself down, to reduce her momentum from the cataclysmic collision-in-reverse that was her Extinction Comet skill. The six ring gates absorbed the brunt of the shock of her explosive movement in the sideward directions.

As the pebble pierced the air on its path toward the gate it ignited from the friction. It would have broken up if not for Ciel’s mana reinforcement. This was one of the properties of the overlevelled level 16 Unarmed Dreadnought Style: Extinction Comet skill she had acquired.

Further, instead of allowing the pebble to cause shockwaves and damage the village and surroundings Ciel used two gates to create a shortcut for its trajectory. The 26 large gates would altogether absorb and reflect the devastating damage, shielding the village and at the same time redirecting the power of the explosion toward the unfortunate target.

As the mana-reinforced super-sonic pebble struck one of the lower tentacles of Hypermouth it begun to vaporise, with the vapour forming a fireball that soon engulfed the beast. It had not so much as a semblance of chance to react to the assault. As the fireball reached the ground a great volume air and dust was pushed out in a powerful pressure wave that uprooted the soil and remaining trees around the creature. All of the flying debris, dust and trees caught fire from the heat of the fireball. The reflective array of shields redirected the energy away from the village as a mushroom cloud darkened the twilight sky.

The wide-eyed onlookers watched Ciel landed back down, their ears pointed, fanged mouths agape. Then they all cheered.

I guess they’re a pretty straightforward bunch.

In between the oblivious post-apocalyptic celebration, the two female guards standing next to Nina and Sara, who were bound to an upright pike, released them after making eye contact with Ciel.

“Those two, we captured them after they lured and slain two of our young”, said Ashka.

“They’d never do something like this! I can vouch for them with my life!”, Emica burst out.

“That won’t be necessary…”, replied Ashka, glancing at Ciel, who was stretching out her her left arm, pushing the elbow down toward her shoulder-blades. “We have no choice but to submit to you and your companion.”

“Whatever happened to your young, I promise you we will find the perpetrators whoever they may be!”, proclaimed Emica.

Umm… are you sure that’s something we can do?

Before Emica could continue making further promises, Nina, the bespectacled elf mage of Emica’s Children, rushed toward them with tears in her eyes, leaving behind the still-recovering companion. She was wearing a jacket with a tie, pleated skirt and thigh-highs. Her manner of dress loosely resembled that of some fan-service heavy anime art. Ashka readied her blades. Emica opened her arms ready to receive her.

But Nina landed on Ciel. Embracing her, pressing her small, firm breasts onto Ciel’s chest.

“I don’t care if you’re a Noble Vampire or a teleporting demon! I’m a protector and lover of all little girls in Onszeria!”

Wait, what.

“Ciel!”, Nina was weeping unashamedly, “will you marry me?!”

Emica grasped her forehead with her palm in sheer disappointment. “I can’t believe it…”

Everyone else recoiled at Nina’s words, taking a step back. Nina was certainly not dispelling the suspicions they had about her. She was rubbing her cheek on Ciel’s face as they both lay on the ground.

This woman’s crazy! No! She’s a total lolicon!

———

End of Chapter 7

———