A man screamed nearby as a horde of flying insects descended on him. L shook her head "I can't fight a cloud of insects. Rodents maybe, but it’s hard to cut bugs." A child's screaming issued from the house Eika had jumped into as V tried to figure out what to do. "The only option is to go right for the man who is clearly controlling them. We have no area of effect weapons. However..." L nodded, it was clear that running directly for the man was going to be a problem. Hundreds and hundreds of small vermin flooded the road between them Although they seemed somewhat out of control as they sometimes ate one another and were crawling around in a giant mass, both V and L had no illusions that they would not immediately turn on them should they get close. The man finally noticed them, having been absorbed in his own grandstanding. "Such hateful eyes that woman has!" As he spoke, a murder of crows descended from the sky, diving directly toward L. Luckily, crows were big enough targets for L to defend herself against. As L fought crows, V backed up, perhaps there was another way around? The man's back was to the outside of the village, and from were V was standing currently, it seemed clear of vermin.

As V considered, Eika burst through a different window of the house, carrying a small child. The woman who was still nearby started screaming "My son! My son!" as Eika handed him to her, she took off running. "Why are the monsters advancing so slowly? Small animals are fast normally, I should know." Eika asked V as she watch L finish off the remaining crows. "Well... I think they are eating.... everything." V gestured to the houses already behind the vermin line. They were swarming with them, and the houses had started to lean, and one looked moments from collapsing. He also gestured to the mass in the road. "I think they even ate the rocks in the road. Everything but the dirt." Eika's face twisted in disgust "That's not normal." V shook his head. "Assuming we win this battle, we are going to have to watch ourselves for the next few days." He gestured toward a few small wounds Eika had taken inside the house. "Vermin like this often carry disease." The man who was surrounded by a cloud of bugs fell dead as the bugs swarmed over his corpse. "Let’s definitely stay away from those." Eika said with a horrified look. V nodded "If he has direct control over everything here, that might be hard..." L and the group retreated a few yards as the horde slowly made forward progress.

"We gotta save the town!" Eika cried out. L nodded "Girl, I would also like to save the people and their homes, but unless you can suddenly throw giant waves of fire, I’m not certain we will be able to." V tried to analyze the movements of the vermin, perhaps if the man controlling them only had a limited type of control, there would be behaviors or patterns he could exploit. Eika was looking upward as she next spoke. "I... might be able to get to him if I jump off the roof closest to him." She tightly gripped one of her metallic balls she used for ammunition. "I already tried to hit him with my sling, it was the first thing I did. I did not really see what happened but I think he dodged it." V looked at the roofs and nodded, it was possible Eika would have been able to do it before her class change. Now, it should be fairly easy for her, however... "We don't know if he is powerful in close range or not. Worst case scenario is he catches you out of the air and rips you in half, a la O style." Eika nodded "Maybe, but we can’t just leave everyone here to die and lose their village!" L also nodded "If the village is displaced, even if the people survive this attack many will likely die before they find another village who would take them in."

V still shook his head as they continued to slowly retreat from the horde's movement. "Let's say that it goes perfectly. You jump toward him, dodge any bird or bugs or whatever that is defending him, and kill him instantly with a blow to the head. You are going to land in a swarm of horrible numerous vermin that might swarm and eat you." Eika's face paled, clearly, she had not considered that aspect of her plan. "I... if he died maybe they will scatter? This is not normal behavior for these types of animals." L nodded "The girl is right about that at-least." V shook his head again. "They might, it depends on how he is controlling them though. If it’s like mind control, then sure. However, it does not look like direct mind control to me. What if he is just giving them generic commands that they follow? "Group up" and "Eat everything." The commands might not vanish after he dies." Everyone stood silently for a few moments before Eika spoke up again. "Well, I’m not leaving everyone behind! They were very nice to me. I have to try, don't I?" L looked at V "If she wishes to take the risk, it will not be a stain on your honor if she is devoured by rats, or whatever." V shrugged "Ya staining my honor was not really the part I was concerned about."

After another moment of silence Eika nodded to herself. "I’m going to do it. I have to try to save everyone." Eika examined the buildings for another moment, as the one closest to the man was on fire, and the next closest had collapsed and she was re-planning her rout. Suddenly she jumped on a nearby fence, then to a nearby stable's roof, and finally onto the roof of one of the homes. From there it was easy for her to jump from roof to roof. The speed and agility she displayed was impressive. She always was naturally skilled at maneuvering and jumping. V heard L subtly take in a breath and hold it as Eika leapt off the final roof toward what was surly the champion of Vermin. Luckily, it seemed as if the probably insane man had not noticed Eika until she was already on top of him. Her metallic ball came smashing down on his skull the force of her jump behind it. V heard the cracking noise all the way from where he was standing. He furrowed his brow and asked L as Eika brought her hand up for another smash. "What happens if a non-champion kills a champion?" L shrugged "I have no idea, but when I killed the Champion of Combat, I did not get the status message for killing him. Just as I did not receive any experience for that entire night. I suspect it was all going to the Champion of Violence, as I was under his thrall at the time. Perhaps you will receive the kill since she is your slave? Although it is not quite the same as mind control, so I really have no idea." V squinted as he responded, "Well I ask because if one of us gets the kill, we could take the blessing. That way we could be sure to be able to stop the vermin horde. I doubt it was a class ability after all."

Eika brought her hand down again, the ball crashing through the man's skull. The man collapsed, Eika going down with him. "He is dead!" She called as she fell. Unfortunately, however, the vermin did not stop their unnatural behavior. In-fact, the ones closest to Eika and the man's body started swarming all over him, and then her. "Euh! They are eating him!!! AH!!!" Eika fell backwards as she also started to become covered with the horde. L gripped her weapon "That is not a good way to die. I... wish I could help the girl." V shook his head. He was not going to let this happen. Eika depended on them, she thought of them as family, she was willing to die if she thought it would save them, V refused to stand here and do nothing. He refused to allow the desire to flee and save himself to win this time. V took a step toward the horde, and then another. "You can't be serious. The girl will be a pile of bones before you even got there, even if they vermin ignored you the whole way." V's instincts that had kept him alive, for a while anyway, in his old world were screaming at him to flee and leave this whole village behind. His mind also knew this was suicide. "Survival is all that matters" "Save yourself." "Every man for himself." The thoughts that dominated the greater part of his life rushed through his head. However, in his heart he knew he could not leave her to be eaten. She represented a part of himself. The part he hated most, parent-less, enslaved, alone in the world. However, she had found happiness again. He took his life and dedicated it to taking happiness away from others, she took her life and found her own happiness, and wished to share it with others. She thought of him as her family, a family she had trust in. He had found a family that eventually stabbed him in the back, and he was not even truly surprised by the betrayal. The rest of the world could burn to ashes, but he refused to let this girl who cared for him as family die.

┌——————┐
Blessing of the First mother has activated!
└——————┘

As V's foot made contact with the edge of the vermin horde, his blessing activated. His head hurt, but no loss of consciousness or overwhelming pain, just a pressure and light pain in his head. From underneath the mass of small animals, a muffled sound came from Eika. The vermin covering her rapidly began to retreat, as if in terror. As they fled from her body, her change became apparent, her ears had grown pointed again, she had grown fangs like a saber-tooth tiger, and she was on all fours. She roared, which was a weird sound, a second time and the vermin retreated even further. As V was actually conscious this time, he quickly checked her status.

┌——————┐
Name: Eika
Age: 17
Race: Rabbitkin Archon
Titles: "Friend of the Elgorian Fairies"
"First Among Rabbitkin"
Occupation: Slave (Dredge) 
Class: Chosen One (Rabbitkin) lv 1  (Unique class, given to those who are chosen by prophecy, destiny, etc.)
Skills: "Tracking Lv 4", "Hearing Lv 5", "Smell Lv 5", "ForestCraft Lv 4", "Destiny lv ∞",
*&%*@)
Curses: (Restoring Curse)
└——————┘

V was just in time to see the curse vanish from Eika's status, to be replaced with a message that stated the curse was being restored. He did not have a lot of time to think about it at the moment, but he finally was able to figure out that her physical transformation occurred when the curse was gone. While he would have liked to think about it for a bit longer, a new situation had arisen that stopped his contemplation. As the vermin pulled back from Eika, L had noticed the man's body was totally eaten, bones and all. "V, be careful, I think something is wrong..." As she spoke, the man stood again, rising from amongst the vermin. "Did you really think it was that easy? For every rat you kill in your house, there always seems to be one more, does there not?"