Book One – Interlude – Part Five – Servi’s Nightly Stroll II – Attack on the Markets

Ten minutes later, as they approached the building where the second group of associates was in, Servi and Kire stood out of the way as a company of guards hastily ran by.

“Haha, there’s no way they can get rid of that fire. It’s set to automatically go out in a few hours, so they just have to wait. If they try, then there’s a massive fire burning inside the dome that’ll just reheat the outside if they try to cool it down. They’ll try and try, leaving us with enough time to rescue the slaves here. Was that your original plan, Itarr?”

No. I wanted to contain the fire.

“What’d she say? Did she know that would happen?” Kire asked. Servi noticed that he was nicer to her. They walked into a similar-looking ruined building and made their way up the stairs.

“She said she didn’t. She wanted to contain the fire.”

“I see.”

Reaching a black door, Kire knocked in a pattern, and Servi heard a click. The door opened, allowing the two to walk inside.  They were met with some very frantic and alarmed people.

“Kire?! Oh, thank the Gods above you’re here! Look, man, the market is on fire! What about the slaves?! Oh Gods, we didn’t save them?! Tell me you saved them!” A teenage Singi scrambled over to Kire and pointed out the window. Even from here, the massive dome looked so big and intimidating, like it was an eye of a devil who woke up.

“Calm down, Scratch,” Kire said, chopping the boy on the head between his yellow ears. “The slaves are fine. Miu, Mii, Llara, Hue, Haqi, Ziq, Rie, and Lurrgy are escorting them. Blue here is the one who summoned that dome of fire.”

“It was Itarr who did it, not me,” she said, correcting him.

The group of people scattered around came close while Servi, Scratch, and Kire were talking.

“Blue? Itarr? Wait, a Human?! Kire, you hate Humans. Why would you ev—hhhmmmpppp!!”

“Shut up, you fool,” Kire used his massive hands to shut the Singi’s mouth while he explained. “I made an exception for her. She healed up Rie’s arm so good it was like it was never broken to begin with. And she managed to take off those damn bracelets and opened the jail cells. And she saved my life,” he removed his hand, and Scratch nodded.

Kire then talked to the group. “Listen up! This is Blue! She’ll be taking part in the raid. That dome of fire you see over there? She, or rather someone she’s very close with, did it. But don’t take that to mean she’s weak. If she wanted to, she could’ve destroyed this whole town in a matter of minutes, but she decided to lend us her strength! If you have a problem with her, then you have a problem with me!”

A female Elf who sat on a piece of rubble spoke up. “If you say she’s good, then I’m down with it,” Servi could see her wince in pain as she slowly adjusted her foot.

“Yeah!”

“We’re gonna win!!”

“Alright! Alright! Quiet down. Now, tell me what you have on this market.”

“Well, we know the slaves are kept in their cages at all times, and there’s no underground storage. We scouted around and counted at least 42 guards. Divided three ways for the three buildings, we expect each building to have anywhere from 13 to 15 enemies. But we don’t know what to do about the cages and bracelets. We don’t have a key,” Scratch said, his ears drooping when he got to the end of his sentence.

“I can handle the cages and bracelets." Servi demonstrated what she meant by taking a sword out of her ring by making it appear in different places using Absorption.

“Dimensional Storage?! Hell yeah, dude, she’s at least Rank 4!”

“Not exactly, but close enough. Regardless, don’t worry about the bracelets or any injuries. Speaking of that, anyone who's hurt, no matter how small or minor it may be, raise your hand.”

“You guys might want to listen to her. Her healing skills are incredible, and we need everyone to be in tip-top shape,” Kire said. A few hands immediately shot up.

Servi noticed the Elf with an injured foot had her hand up. She decided that would be her first patient.

“What’s hurting ya?” Servi cheerfully asked. She didn’t know it until now, but she liked healing people. Was Servi a nurse or doctor before she lost her memories?

“My foot. I got a nasty cut across it a few days ago, and none of us knew a strong enough healing skill. And we couldn’t afford a healer who did,” the Elf took off her boot to reveal a black sock that used to be white. More than that, an ungodly stench wafted up, forcing everyone around her to nearly vomit.  The Elf teared up at such a reaction.

“It’s gonna hurt, but bear with me,” Servi grabbed the top of the sock and slowly slid it off as the over-saturated cloth dripped black blood. The Elf winced in pain, groaning when Servi was met with some resistance. The fabric around the Elf's foot was nearly glued to her foot by way of black crimson.

Once it was off, Servi saw how bad it was.

It was a lengthy black cut that was infested to the point yellow blisters had started to form. Thanks to Servi’s Immortality, the horrid and rotten smell didn’t bother her. Using a cautious touch, Servi gently used her finger to touch the area around the cut.  Servi's finger accidentally glanced against it, and the Elf yelped and jumped in pain.

“Itarr, how much Potential do we have?”

176

“And how much are the next level healing skills?”

The Rank 6 skill requires 35 Potential. The Rank 1 needs 100.

“Alright, if this doesn’t work, get the Rank 6. Let’s do all 156 stacks.”

Right!

While Servi was stacking Remedium, a process that took a few seconds, the Elf asked Kire what just happened.

“I don’t know who this Itarr person is, but Blue obviously trusts her. Stacking? Well, I don’t know either, but I can show you an example,” Kire looked down at his wrist and saw that the Protection flower had a few petals left.

“Scratch!”

“Yeah?”

“Take out your dagger and stab my arm.”

“What?! No, I can’t do that!” Scratched stepped back. He and the group had a frazzled look on their faces.

“Just do it! This is the only way for me to show it.”

“Whatever you say, but you better not hit me.”

Scratch reluctantly took his dagger and stabbed it into Kire’s arm.  As the Koena expected, it bounced back. But Scratch didn’t expect it. He had purposely kept a loose grip on his weapon so he wouldn't hurt his friend.  It escaped his grasp and bounced off a wall behind him.

As Scratch retrieved it, Kire explained. “That was the Rank 10 skill known as Protection.”

A Dwarf walked up. “Bullshit. Protection's too weak to stop all the damage from an attack.”

“That’s the truth. Blue's can ‘stack’ the effect of skills. Or something like that. I don’t really understand it, but if what she says is correct, I have 156 ‘stacks’ of Protection on me right now.”

“But just think of the Skill Energy required! Protection doesn’t use a lot, but the energy requires to use it 156 times adds up! It’s impossible!” a female Singi with glasses spoke up. She held a mystical-looking staff in her robe-covered hands. Her weapon was a black pole that seemed to suck in light with a small red jewel on top, and it was transparent to those around that she was well versed in the ways of skills.

“That may be so, but I saw her, or Itarr, or someone, hell I don’t know. But I saw fifty Greater Fireballs materialize above her before they smashed into the market.”

“FIFTY!!!!! That is so utterly impossible! I won’t, and I can’t believe it! Even I can’t use Fireball more than five times without feeling woozy, and she can use GREATER FIREBALL FIFTY TIMES?!!!” The glasses-wearing Singi fell to the ground in disbelief with her red tail drooping along with its master.

“I know what I saw, and I saw what I saw.”

While Kire talked to the group, Servi finished with her stacking and let loose Remedium. It fluttered about before congregating on her foot. As the icky, black, disease-ridden skin faded away, her beautiful pale skin took its rightful place. Servi looked up and saw her patient was staring at her.

“Red eyes?” she asked.  Servi froze up for a second or two before responding.

“Blue.”

“Why the mask?”

“Keep asking questions, and I’ll stop the healing.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Good. Well, the infested skin is gone. I’m sorry, but there’s a faint scar. Put some weight on it,” Servi stood up and walked back, giving the Elf the space to stand up. She did so gently at first, starting with her toes before pressing her foot on the ground. The Elf limped for a second or two before walking. Then, she jogged and eventually broke into a small sprint.

“How is it?” Servi asked.  The Elf surprised her with a hug.

She whispered and teared up. “Thank you so much. I’m sorry I tried to pry… For something like this, I should’ve known you wanted to keep your identity a secret. I’m sorry.”

Servi hugged back. “It’s fine.”

She broke off from the hug and asked around. “Anyone else?” A large number of hands raised up.

Servi walked around to each person and healed a variety of wounds. Some were minor cuts and bruises, while others were a sprained ankle or a broken finger. As she was healing the last patient’s broken thumb, a glasses-wearing Singi with a staff walked over and interrogated Servi.  Her red tail whipped in anger and envy, responding to the emotions of its master.

“What you’re doing right now is impossible," she said.

“No. It’s not.”

“Even if it was possible, this so-called ‘stacking’ should be impossible without a staff. And even then, the staff would have to be incredibly powerful AND able to repeat actions multiple times! And that’s currently impossible. It has to be!"

“Why’s a staff so important anyway?” she asked as her Dwarf patient moved his thumb back and forth. He profusely thanked Servi and walked off to talk to Kire.

“You don’t know! Hahaha….” the Singi sadly chuckled to herself. “How can someone with so much power not know that?!”

“Because I don’t. Oh wait, how could someone not do something so simple as stacking?! Hahaha….” Servi replied in a mocking tone. That angered the Singi. “Look,” Servi continued in her regular tone, free of mocking, “don’t assume that knowledge that is common to you is common to everyone. It’s not. Everyone has their own story. Me? Well, I know nothing about staffs like you don’t know about Skill Stacking.”

The Singi let Servi’s words resonate within her mind for a moment before sighing. “Fine, I’m sorry. A staff multiplies a skill’s power before it’s used. For example, Fireball and Fire Wall will be both hotter and stronger, and Electric Touch and Lightning Orb will deliver a more powerful shock. For a skill user like me, it’s both my sword and shield. In short, a personalized staff is one of the most important items a skill user can invest in."

“I see. Maybe I should get one. Itarr, how powerful would we be?”

There’s no way for me to tell without actually using one.

“Itarr?” the Singi asked.

“A very close friend and someone I love very much.”

I love you too, Servi.

“A very close friend that you can talk with? Someone we can’t see….. Perhaps.. a spirit?" The Singi placed a finger to her chin. "Are you possessed?” she asked.

“Sorry, I can’t answer that,” Servi answered as she walked over to Kire. The entire group, sans Servi and the Singi, were around him as he gave a final talk.

Servi arrived to a chorus of applause.

“Enough! Enough!” Kire boomed over the clapping. “Everybody check and double-check your equipment. We’re about to start!”

Five minutes later, Servi, the Elf with the once-infected foot, the Singi with the glasses and staff, Kire, and all the others stood in front of a pair of frightened guards. They twitched and shook with something like excitement but also regret and fear. Their first battle against a powerful group of individuals was terrible luck on their part.

“I suppose you aren’t gonna let us in?” asked Servi.

“Ge-Get back now! This ain’t the place for you filthy Demis!” the left had somehow scrounged up the courage to speak.

“Blue, can you do the honors? A display of your power is sure to convince those in the group who still harbor doubts.”

“Fine,” Servi, for the umpteenth time, used Telekinesis to snap the necks of the young guards and stored the bodies in her ring. After that, it was child's play to absorb the gate that blocked them from entering.

“No. Nonononononono! Impossible!” the staff-wielding glasses-wearing Singi went to her knees. “That was Telekinesis!! Invoking skills without speaking isn’t something that’s supposed to exist….” she said so silently that no one heard her. The Elf that had the foot injury crouched down and helped the Singi back to her feet.

“Come on, we have some saving to do.  That Blue is clearly powerful, and she's hiding something.  But it's not our place to question her.  She's helping us."

“Yeah… Sorry about that,” after meekly apologizing, the Singi and Elf hurried to join up with their group. Though it should’ve been a battle at night, Itarr’s dome of fire illuminated nearly the entire city.  It wouldn’t be long until the curse of panic ran throughout Canary like a virus.

This market was different from the one Servi had come from. It was smaller, with no underground cells to mentally torment slaves, and it wasn't funnel-shaped. Three large and long buildings stood parallel from each other.

“Follow the plan and break into two teams for two buildings. Blue is on her own, and she’ll take care of the last one. Make sure to keep in contact. We shouldn’t have to worry about any reinforcements because of Blue’s fire dome. That's a big enough distraction by itself, so spread out and kill everything. After that, we can go ahead and rescue the slaves.”

“Got it,” Servi said. She was the first to break off from the group and ran towards her assigned building. It was made of metal and had a black roof. The doors that led into it were big and heavy, only able to be opened on the inside by the guards who had the night shift. There weren’t any windows, so it was likely those inside had no idea what was going on.

“Can we absorb the building?” Servi asked.

We can, but it'll take us hours.  Our Absorption isn't strong enough.

“Damn. Well, might as well get to it,” even though the door had no visible handles, Servi’s Telekinesis could create an anchor point on the door and slide it up.  A part of her wished she didn't because it revealed a dark and horrifying sight that stained her eyes.

Small cages were littered in an ironic neat line that spanned the length of the building. Each one had a person inside that was forced to bend and crouch in a painful way to fit.

“Whaaz? It ain’t time yet fer changing!” a large man asleep nearby on a chair woke up.  The screeching of the door opening was loud enough to wake him.

It took him a moment to realize the door was being opened from the outside.

Servi didn’t give him any chance to speak or act before she charged forward. She summoned a sword from her ring and sliced downward, cutting off half of his face. It messily slid down, revealing an inside look at his brain and teeth. Then she quickly ran to a cage that held a child and spoke softly. The little child inside had her mouth open.  She was about to scream.

“I’m here to save you and all the others, but you gotta be brave for me. Can you do that?” Servi asked.  Her voice was sweet like syrup, yet it contained more kindness than the little girl had ever received in her horrible life.

The frightened Dwarf child nodded her head as she stared at the mask her potential savior wore.

“That’s a good girl. I’ll be back soon.”

Servi stood up, walked back to the guy she killed, and absorbed his corpse.  Turning her head, she quickly analyzed the path she would take. The walkway wasn’t that big, maybe enough for two or three people to walk side to side, though the lines of cages on either side made it look smaller.

Further ahead, two people were asleep, standing against a support beam. It was comically easy for Servi to walk up to each one and stab their hearts. Absorbing the bodies, it was about this time that the slaves in this building yelled and screamed. Usually, they’d be dead asleep, stressed, and worn out from standing all day and doing what their potential masters ordered them to do. But that changed when a young Elf boy turned in his cage. The light coming from the faraway dome fluttered in his eyes. It was a mix of seeing the fire, and the door opened frighten him to the point where he had no choice but to yell out. His screaming woke up the children caged beside him, which woke up more and more until everyone was shouting and crying.

For Servi, that was a good thing. She didn’t have to sneak around anymore. She asked Itarr to take out some swords and control them using Telekinesis.

Of course. You just walk, and I’ll kill.

“Thank you.”

To the slaves, Servi looked like an angel with autonomous blades forged from the Gods Above with the sole objective to slay evil-doers.

To the enemies, it was like she was a demon that was sent by the devil with his hand-forged, blood-soaked blades that had a soul of their own. They flew around, mercilessly slaughtering all without remorse or regret.

“MONSTER! DIE! MONS—GAAAHHH!!!” A burly man with a bald head tried to rush through the deadly floating swords, but he was far too slow. One blade went through his chest and kept flying, while a second soared in and sliced off his head. He died instantly.

“COME ON!! She’s by herself. GAAH!” The backdrop of slaves screaming in fear when combined with the slaver's death cries made for a horrid show.

When all was said and done, Servi stood as the lone survivor. A maestro of death and destruction covered her concert hall with blood. She left the building with the slaves still screaming before going to the next one over.

“I see I’m not needed,” Servi quipped.  She stood by, leaned against a support beam as the Elf with the foot wound forced her dagger to dance across the throat of a man she had held against the wall.

“I think we’re done here. How was your building?” The Elf retrieved a cloth and wiped her blade clean.

“The slavers are, dead but I might’ve frightened the slaves. You hear them screaming? Sorry, but can you get someone to calm them? I’m not the best with kids.”

“I’ll head over there in a second,” Scratch said. With a temporary goodbye, Servi went to the last building and discovered that they also were done.

“Blue! Did you have any trouble?” Kire asked while his hands gripped the bars of a cage. Servi shook her head, and Kire nodded before turning back to the coops. The slave inside cautiously poked his head out before he took the Koena's outstretched hand.

“You’re safe now, alright? You don’t have to worry. We’ll get those bracelets off in a second, okay?”

The slave was too scared to do anything more than nod.

“I guess that’s my cue?” Kire nodded at Servi’s question as she ran to the end of the building. Making her way back down, she absorbed every single cage and bracelet, as well as using a Remedium to heal any wounds. After making sure that they were okay, Servi went to the second building, and the Singi with the glasses followed her while she worked.

“I just don’t get it. There's no chant, and I’ve never heard of a skill that could remove items like this.  It's like the bracelets are ceasing to exist. These things are enchanted with a seal to prevent them from being removed via Dimensional Storage, so it can't be that.  Gah! I need to know! Please! Tell! Me!”

“Sorry, but you can guess all you like. I’m not telling you," Servi replied.

“Ma’am? Are you really here to save us?” the Koena slave inside the cage asked. He was the oldest looking and largest one by far. Servi could see deep indentations and cracked black scales from where he was forced to crouch to fit in the cage.

With a bit of Remedium, the cracked scales fixed themselves.

“Oh! Thank you so much!”

Servi nodded and kept working. Before long, the second building was cleared out. Moving onto the third, she saw Scratch juggling some rocks, much to the amusement of the slaves that could see him. He walked up and down the length of the building to make sure no one was left out.

“That’s awfully sweet of you,” Servi said as she walked to him. He was so focused that her voice caused him to jump, and some rocks bounced off his head.

“Ouch… Blue. Did you finish up the other two?”

“Yeah, I did,” Servi used Remedium to heal Scratch's head.  A little bit of blood dribbled down his forehead.

“Thanks. Hey, I have a quick question.  How in the world did you splatter all that blood? I had a helluva time cleaning it off everybody through the cages. They’re pretty scared of you now.”

“Sorry, but that’s just the way I fight.”

“Remind me not to piss you off.”

“Yeah…. I’m gonna go ahead and get rid of the cages. Follow me and reassure them that I mean no harm.”

“Roger that.”

Starting from the back, Servi made her way down the length of the building. Like clockwork, she removed bracelets and healed wounds from every single slave. Some screamed when they saw her, but after a bit of reassurance of the Singi who juggled rocks, they calmed down.

Twenty minutes after that attack began, Servi watched the Elf that she healed, Scratch, and the rest of the group walk away with the slaves. They were escorting them to the tunnel. Once they were far enough, Servi asked Itarr to recreate the same dome of fire.

“And you’re sure I can watch!?” The staff-wielding Singi asked.  Her tail swooshed a mile a second.  If she wasn't sure of it, Servi swore the Singi's tail moved fast enough to create tornados.

“Yep," Servi lazily answered.

“But you might want to stand back a bit,” Kire warned.  He grabbed the Singi’s hand and walked away.

She protested. "Bua?! No! I wanna see it close up! I wanna!” she exclaimed and begged like a child, but once the fifty Greater Fireballs appeared overhead, she was the one who dragged Kire.

Like before? Use Fire Wall afterwards? How long before it extinguishes itself?

“Make so that this dome will disappear at the same time as the first one. And yes, just like before.”

Right!

Itarr let loose the Greater Fireballs and allowed them to fall down and explode on impact. A massive firestorm erupted as the murderous and destructive red glow threatened to overflow and burn the surrounding buildings. Just like before, fifty Fire Walls appeared above Servi, and they launched towards the market. Combining together, they made a dome-like shape and enclosed the area. When compared to the first dome, the second was tinier in scale. The heat that raged on inside, however, was hotter than the inside of a volcano. Metal, brick, glass, nothing could withstand the insane temperature stampeding on inside it.

After watching for a minute to make sure the dome functioned correctly, Servi walked over to Kire and the very excited Singi.

“I’ve never seen anything so beautiful and awe-inspiring before in my life…. Please, be my teacher!!”

“No.”

“Geh!!” the Singi dropped to her knees, defeated. Kire uncharacteristically chuckled.

“Go ahead and meet up with the others. We got one more market to hit up,” Kire ordered.

“Right… Blue?”

“Hmm?”

“Thank you for showing me what lies beyond. I thought I was pretty damn good with skills. After seeing you, though, I feel like a child who can’t even walk. But I won’t give up!” she said before she ran away after the slaves.

“You know, Cara rarely acts like that. Usually, she’s spouting off stuff like ‘I’m the greatest skill user in the world, and no one can stop me.’”

“Hmm….”

“Well, shall we get to the last one?” he said as he started walking, not even waiting for Servi’s answer.

“Sure,” she replied as she followed him.

Servi thought that her nightly stroll was to be over after the last market, but it was only beginning. There was more murdering and saving to be done before she had a chance to rest her weary head.