Chapter 17: Gold and Silver
It was a shame, Hina thought, that she wouldn't be seeing Wonderland when she was traveling so close to it. Emily asked, fairly early on, if they were in danger of running into anybody, but Chessie told them that the Hall of Exits was rarely used outside of wartime, and that Wonderland hadn't seen a war in the past six thousand years, even if they were always ready for one. Badger Girl wanted to see more of what Wonderland had to offer, but now wasn't the time... when she mentioned this to Charlotte, the electric cat girl promised she'd bring them back to explore one day.
There were many things on Hina's mind, of course, but chief among them was last night. Maybe it shouldn't have been the thing she was thinking of most strongly... but, as a guy's mind might, she was a bit fixated on Aurelia, and last night. It wasn't that Aurelia was superior to the others by any means, it was simply that the night before... Aurelia had never been with a man, and although Hina wasn't one, there was an especially heavy atmosphere in all the right ways because of it. It was a night of firsts, really, having gone on for so incredibly long...
"Are you alright, Hina?" Emily asked, shifting her sharp, feathery wings a bit. "You seem distracted, do you feel ill or weak again?"
"Emily... I'm scared I'll die, and my world is falling apart..." Hina thought those words, but didn't say them. Instead, she leaned forward and hugged Emily, pausing their footsteps for a moment. With the busty Devil held in her arms, Hina whispered; "I love you, and I want you to know that, no matter what happens." Stepping away, then, Hina continued walking, leaving Emily with a slightly sad expression on her face.
"Hina, I love you too... nothing is going to happen, though. All of us are going to be fine, there isn't any alternative to that." Emily sounded inflexible. "I won't let anything happen to you or anyone else."
"That's what I'm afraid of," Hina whispered, too softly to be heard, remembering her dream. The one where Emily was stabbed through the heart, and blood began to spill over her bottom lip as the light faded from her eyes... "Charlotte, you do understand, you're to guard us all during whatever fight ensues, right?"
"That's why I was summoned, isn't it? Whatever else would I do, mistress~?" Charlotte smirked in Hina's direction, but miss Summoned Hero was too distracted to be affected by Charlotte's devilish good looks. "Seriously though, Hina... you're a good person, and it's been a long time since I met somebody who wasn't in things for themselves alone. You've got a following, and in my professional opinion..." Looking at the badger girl more seriously, Charlotte gave a look that could bore a hole through the earth itself. "You're worth protecting. None of you are going to die."
"Hina..." Nao spoke softly, then shook her head. "Never mind. All of us are going to be fine, right? There's no need for early good byes."
"That's right," Hina agreed, but she wasn't certain beyond a shadow of a doubt.
~~~
As soon as she climbed out of the Hall of Exits, finding herself in a damp, musty basement, Hina knew something was wrong. Really, it didn't require any skill to deduce; there was a host of armored soldiers and angels mixed, all with weapons leveled at her head. The rest of the group followed her out, everyone looking confused and raising their hands slowly... but the weapons weren't the only problems. Hina could feel it happening again; her heart beginning to thud a little too hard, sweat beading on her brow.
"I need to get-"
"We know what you need, Hina, and this is only a precaution. Our queens would have words with you, and then we'll take you straight to the spring... according to Aerendyl, we need to move fast, so get going." Turning, one soldier headed upstairs, and the confused party of mixed species was led through a small home and out into a sunny street. Still surrounded, they marched through the streets, attracting stares everywhere they went... but, at least, everybody stowed away their weapons, making this appear to be an escort rather than an arrest.
As they walked, Hina took advantage of the time to try and distract herself from her palpitating heartbeat by looking at the structures all around. Surprisingly, it reminded her of a cross between feudal Japanese and medieval Europe's architecture, influences of both able to be seen everywhere. For example, there was a house made from logs, there, but they were finely, thinly cut and arranged neatly, topped with a traditional roof much like that on a Kyoto temple. It was a strange mix, but it worked.
"I don't feel well," Hina exhaled sharply, feeling a slight pang in her chest.
"Oh, we know," one of the angels muttered darkly as they approached the gates to a japanese style palace. What, did one of the previously summoned heroes have the power of architecture? Or was it an alternate world thing?
"I need... the spring," Hina insisted as they began to climb the steps to a broad wooden veranda, walking toward a set of doors.
"Don't worry, you'll get there soon," one of the soldiers answered this time, but something felt inexplicably wrong, and Hina was feeling worse, weaker, slowly but surely.
"Our queens want to escort you themselves, you see?" An angel spoke, gesturing for Hina alone to go through a doorway, and into a large, open garden. After she'd gone, hesitating only a moment, the angels turned to her friends and spoke, too softly for the nervous, leaving badger girl to catch.
"Listen, you four... what happens next, is us losing our lives. Not the four of you, but almost certainly the lot of us. Before Hina can be cured..." and they explained the plan, to Emily, Nao, Aurelia and even Charlotte's horror.
~~~
"Welcome, to Mir's Capitol," spoke a woman, softly. There were two young adults, sitting on a bench at the center of the garden. One with long, flowing, iron gray hair. The other with shoulder length, honey blonde locks. Both with the ears And tail of a wolf or large dog.
"Thank you," Hina spoke, bowing lowly as was customary for men, not realizing that a curtsy would be more appropriate.
"I am Aurum," spoke the blonde woman, "-and this is Argent. Our sister, Adamentum, is currently out of the city on business. You may know the three of us collectively as Cerberus," Aurum added helpfully.
"I'm afraid I haven't had the pleasure of hearing your tale, and I would love to, but something is wrong with me, and I need..." Hina trailed off, her chest and her gut burning with the need for something she knew not. She didn't know what she wanted, just that her head hurt, and her vision was slightly blurred...
"We understand what you need, dear Hina," Argent slowly stood and walked to the badger girl, resting a hand on her shoulder. When that palm met Hina's skin, a flash of pain rang through her, strong enough to make the Summoned Hero taste iron. Argent leaned closer, taking advantage of Hina's stunned state to softly kiss the Hero's cheek. That touch, too, threatened to tear Hina apart, and she fell to her knees with a choked, pained cry spilling past her lips.
"What...?" Hina threw her head back, hurt swimming in the gaze she shot toward Argent. "The sp-spring, I have to-"
"There is no spring, Hina," Argent murmured, cupping Hina's cheek. Slowly, everything went dark... but she wasn't losing consciousness. In the next second, Hina felt herself swaying on a street she didn't recognize, her entire body slowly burning, lighting from within. She couldn't see straight, she couldn't think loudly enough to hear, but her entire body felt to be pulsing, shifting... people around her were screaming and running... and then, everything snapped back into hyper focus as, in the space of just a moment, Hina ceased to be what she once was.
~~~
"Nao, you're going to be the most important here," One of the angels spoke. "If we try to purify or seal her now, we'll only kill her because of how unstable she is. She needs to finish transforming, so you need to make sure nobody gets close enough to lay a finger on Hina- all of you, working together." Emily nodded along as she heard these words, tightly tying back her white locks. Aurelia looked terrified and determined in the same breath, while Nao looked hesitant, almost sad.
"We can do this," Emily said determinedly. "Let's just get going." They'd been sent after Hina as soon as she vanished, to the Capitol of Starria, just outside of the Central castle. Emily hated this plan, but it was far too late to do anything about the angels who made Aerendyl seem like an upstanding citizen. Slipping out of the shadowy alley they lurked in, Emily ran, fighting against her pounding heart. She'd sworn that she wouldn't kill humans unless she had to, not ever again... but she did have to, and she needed to do it now.
"Demons!!" Voices all around her, Nao and Aurelia screamed, but they rushed past the growing mass of black slime that was the girl they loved, toward the soldiers who had the right idea in killing Hina before this could finish. Emily raised her wings and beat them forward. There was a horizontal rain of black, Emily expending about half her feathers... and the first few lines of soldiers collapsed to the ground, screaming or dead, blood pouring from numerous wounds. Aurelia used her magic to force vines through the cobbled street, punching them through armor and stringing them up like a chain of bloody Christmas lights... but Nao only stood there, faltering.
"Nao, what is it?!" Emily, who still couldn't look toward the squelching, grumbling mess that was Hina, looked instead to the Chochin Obake girl for a moment.
"Hero skill," Nao muttered, sighing. "Epic Finale," she finished, stepping forward slowly, past the other two and toward the soldiers who were making forward progress. Nao's eyes were black as ash, and Emily felt herself filling with trepidation.
~~~
Hina might have sighed happily, if she could breathe. It seemed as though her body had melded with a growing mass of black sludge, through which swirling, pulsing tentacles swam and prodded. Slowly, she was rising upward, watching her girls contentedly. Her mind told her 'Those girls are yours, Hina, so don't worry, we won't kill them. We've got bigger targets'. This was acceptable, and so Hina only watched the girls on the ground until, with a flick of her mutilated wrist, she sent herself elsewhere.
~~~
Emily was terrified of Nao, for only a moment. The lantern Ghost flickered as if she really were a flame, and then she exploded into a massive, unrecognizable version of a human. With four foot talons and an extra ten meters in height, Nao leapt, twisting around and beginning to hack through what was becoming an army in the streets. To be so prepared, had Starria been expecting this? Then again, with a war on the horizon, maybe this was Starria's new norm. Everywhere Nao's monstrous form went, her misshapen head unhinging to crunch the armor of the soldiers, flames followed, arcing around. The screams weren't only from the soldiers, but by now, most of the citizens had probably run far, far away from Hina, Nao's spidery Epic Finale form.
"Emily! Hina is gone!" Aurelia snapped Emily's attention back. "I'll search from the air, you stay and help Nao for now!" Beating her four wings, the Succupixie hurled herself into the air and zipped off. Emily, meanwhile, looked on, ran forward and began to play defense for her demonic companion, who's talons crunched up the stones, turning them to gravel. With a shiver, Emily spun and twirled, cutting through the enemies with her knives, telling herself that this- these bleeding throats and severed limbs- it was all for Hina, the one she loved. If that was the case, she'd do anything, even if it wasn't as much as Nao could do.
~~~
Hina took the castle's front gates in her writhing hands and ripped them off, then impaled the guards opposing her on the pointed spires adorning it. It was no problem to make her way inside, looking around; she understood, now, as she grabbed the archers from their posts on the walls and ripped them in two, three, six. That king tried to do this to her, and now there was nothing she could do about it, but it wasn't too late to make King Henrik suffer. Later, she could find the Lich that did this, and make her suffer as well. It didn't matter how they cried for mercy, Hina would make sure...
"Fell Hero, stop!!" There were three people standing before her, what looked like quite a ways below, on the floor of the castle's grand hall. She recognized one of them; Marie, the French girl who'd been with... was it Yukino? The memories until now felt blurry and indistinct.
"You're the heroes, are you? How many of you are left, now...?"
"Six of us! Three are defending the King in a secret location, and three of us have come to face you!" The one who spoke was a hot-headed man, probably in his mid-twenties... sharpening one of her many tentacles to a razor point, Hina drove it through his head like a spear, impaling his entire body and then tossing him across the room. One of the other heroes- Marie- attacked, while the other man looked at the ruined body in horror. Sure, Marie's spells hurt, but they were beneath her... and she wanted to take advantage of the distracted Hero's stupor. Moving her hand around, she pierced his eye sockets, destroying the brain... Marie stopped attacking, when Hina turned to her, and raised her hands.
"Fell Hero, Hina. I know when I'm beat. Will you let me walk away?"
"Where were you to stop the knights that tried to rape a child, or to stop the attempted slaughter of an entire innocent town?" Hina rolled her eyes, made a fist, and pounded Marie into the floor, shattering every bone in the girl's body with only a push. She knew full well where the King and his heroes were; she could hear their heartbeats, coming from below... but she wouldn't be able to fit through the doorways here, so Hina teleported several meters down, into a stairwell. Even then, things were a bit cramped... could she reduce her size? When she tried to, it worked, and Hina found herself back to her old size and halfway back to her old appearance.
"Ha! if you could ignore the tentacles and the acrid slime, I'd be just regular old Hina~" Giggling, the so-called Fell Hero continued on, toward the bodies. She could feel her strength waxing, her senses growing sharper and stronger... there were more than the king and heroes, but somebody was trying to hide the throng of soldiers around them with magic... it was an ambush.
~~~
Garret stood in wait with his King and the heroes, fully prepared for the fact that he may lose his life here. All of them stood there, listening to the screams of guards throughout the castle... the scout had stated that the Fell Hero was leaving staff alone, only attacking soldiers and heroes... but if the three heroes up above had failed so quickly, what could they hope to do against her?
Garret was waiting just beside the door... but before he ever heard the Fell Hero herself, something grabbed him by the throat, squeezing. In the space of only a half second, he could see everyone being choked, armor crunched into their throats by something like black tentacles, coated in a viscous, sticky slime. Garret was one of the last to die, but his neck snapped just like all the rest.
~~~
Hina strolled easily down the hallway, stepping around the dead bodies; although she could have just waited. They were dissolving, bones and all, and it wouldn't be long before there was nothing left of the soldiers.
"I get it now!" She called to the heroes, who were waiting behind a flimsy wooden door with the king. "There's a war brewing, right? Mir versus Starria..." she knocked the door loose and headed inside, killing one of the inexperienced heroes before they could react; probably just a high school kid before coming here. Somebody swung a sword at her, and she crushed his windpipe in her fist... the other hero and the King backed into a corner. He was a pathetic, shriveling man.
"A war brewing... you have inexperienced, amateurish heroes who don't know how to use their abilities, but you still have an army, and a powerful one at that. If we use your own idiocy against you... the angels send me here, and we slaughter half your army before it can even begin... then, that ends the very possibility of a war, doesn't it?"
"D-Damn you! How many heroes have you killed, now, you damned beast!!" The hero, the king's only remaining guard, shouted, hot and terrified.
"A bit redundant, don't you think?" Hina frowned. The hero charged toward her with speed only a Summoned Hero could possess, but she shoved him back onto several sharpened tentacles, impaling his body. The king, for his part, only stared, setting his jaw as the hero's body fell to the ground with a disgustingly wet noise.
"You have nothing to say, King Henrik? No begging for mercy, no condescending words?"
"I have made my bed... I shall lie in it," the king spoke resolutely, and Hina smiled.
"Then, this is the end, dear King."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone