29 – Even spirits need a fox around
"AAAAAAAA!!"
"Your resistance is admirable. But you should just give in. It will be less painful."
Vanamir was slowly but steadily corrupting the source of the Spirit Queen. Her screams echoed throughout the forest. Vanamir was content until an explosion from behind disrupted his concentration.
*BOOOM*
A powerful shockwave sent all 3 of the abominations he left on guard duty rolling on the ground in a puddle of blood. They were severely mutilated. Not to mention they were very dead.
"3 of my faithful servants defeated? Impossible. Aside from the queen there should be no spirit capable of doing that."
"Well, I ain't a spirit, buddy."
So this is the bad guy who's ass I have to kick? And judging by the scenario the woman tied up by tentacles must be the Spirit Queen.
"Mama, we brought help!"
"Weird woman came."
"But she's strong!"
The fairies were once again frolicking around me and they were incredibly happy to see that they brought help in time. I gotta admit, the Queen looks in pain. I'm glad I decided to go all out and finish the 3 in a flash. So weak…
"A rather unusual person appeared. I believe introductions are in order. My name is…"
"Spare me. I don't give a fuck about your name. All I care about is that you're in my way so I will have to remove you."
I slash the air with Yuki and create a barrage of Icicle shards that were all aimed at crow guy.
"Foolish woman. Obey me! Melt!"
At the sound of his voice a reverberating shockwave collided with my icicles and on contact they immediately melted.
"Not doing any research on your opponent and just charging head on will get you nowhere, miss. But… I suppose even a stubborn person like you can be trained. I will also have you join us as a replacement for the 3 you slaughtered."
"No thanks."
"Hmph. You really have no clue who you are facing. My word is absolute because of my lord. And my power is…"
"Pathetic."
"GUAAAAH!!"
An ice cold dragon arm pierced his chest from behind along with his heart while crushing it in the palm. When Vanamir turned around…
"You… but how? I didn't take my eyes off you for even a second."
There were 2 of me. To be more precise, the one standing in front of him is merely an ice clone.
"Like I said, your power is pathetic. You're a one trick pony."
"Tsk. Even so, don't think you won. Although you stroke a vital organ, I have 3 hearts. Losing one or two means nothing."
"Do I look like I care about your anatomy? Now fall in eternal cold."
Frost Oroboros. A curse that freezes the enemy from within.
"Don't think for a second this will work. Obey me, curse, and….. *haaaahaa*"
His face distorted and words couldn't come out of his mouth.
"Like I said, you are a one trick pony. In which case don't be stupid as to reveal what trick that is. I froze your lungs and your throat. Whatever power you might have it's useless if you can't speak, right?"
His gaze was piercing me with pure hatred. Yare yare. Was he actually relying only on that power? Normally I would devour him. Inheriting that power would make me even more of a cheat existence. But… digesting this guy won't be as easy and I have no clue what all this corruption that's surrounding him will do to me.
In which case, there's only one option.
"Farewell."
I twist my hand around and let the nether flames erupt and engulf him. His body quickly rots away and disappears. Needles to say the tentacles that were restraining the Queen also disappeared.
“Mama! You ok?”
“Does it hurt?”
“Is everything going to be okay now?”
The 3 fairies started flying circles around the Queen.
“It’s alright girls. Calm down. I’ll be fine. I just need to catch my breath. Right now… shouldn’t you introduce me to our guests over there?”
“Ah! Weird woman!”
“Mhm. Total meanie, but she’s strong.”
“Had to get help. We had to make a promise.”
They started to explain in their own words what happened. Honestly it’s rather annoying being called a weird woman, but I’ll ignore it. After all, I have my fair share of weirdos with me. I glanced towards Sasha and Stella.
“Shishou is invincible. I knew you were incredibly strong, but you’re also super cool!” (Sasha)
“Mhm. As expected of Shishou. Everything she does is perfect.”
Honestly letting the fight drag would have put me at a disadvantage. So better to act scary and end it quickly. I don’t care if someone says that it was cowardly, or not heroic. I get the job done. I don’t give a fuck on how I do it.
“Well, it seems I owe you my thanks, miss…”
“Edelweiss. But you can call me Edel. These are Sasha and Stella.”
“Oh. Then let’s skip formalities. Feel free to call me Remia. And can you please also introduce me to your spirit friend?”
She pointed at my katana. As in she pointed at Yuki. Yuki then manifested in her human form.
"You can sense that I am a spirit?"
"I can't call myself the mother of all spirits if I couldn't tell. Although you're not a typical spirit, you have your own legend. Pleased to meet you as well, miss Yuki."
“Looks like you really are the real deal. Alright, Remia. I came here for a reason. I want to have a nice long chat with you.”
“Mama… weird woman made us promise.”
“She has many questions.”
“We promised you would answer and teach her. Only way she agreed to help.”
“Fufu. Someone hungry for knowledge? Well I don’t mind. Edel, you and your friend are my guests. You can stay here as long as you want. I should mention that I have duties. So I will only be able to provide you with 1 hour of my time per day. And I shall grant any knowledge I can upon you. However, if I don’t like certain questions, I won’t answer them. Is that acceptable?”
“Yeah. I can live with that. I got nothing better to do anyway. But I would also request one more thing, since answering my questions isn’t guaranteed. Can you perhaps ask some spirit to help Sasha and Stella over here train? While I can handle all the physical training, I’m not good at teaching magic. And I want to make these two as strong as possible.”
“Yes. That won’t be a problem. I can arrange it. With that out of the way, why don’t I show you around? Care to join me for a stroll towards the western border first? I’d like to get to know you better.”
She displayed a bright smile. Honestly she totally looks like a pop idol. Such radiance and beauty… one could easily fall in love with her at first sight.
“Sure. Lead the way.”