A beautiful, slim figure of a woman was standing by a small stream, watching her reflection on the water’s surface. She had curly, chestnut colored hair and she was wearing an old knight’s armor set. Her gauntlets were modified and they resembled that of a metallic claw, with retractable blades hidden in its fingers. Her face was pretty and mature while her neck was covered in a golden colored fur with black spots on it. Her amber colored eyes were shining watching the dawn slowly illuminate the forest with light.
“I never could understand why you are wearing that heavy piece of garbage.” A voice came from behind her as a tall, muscular man walked up next to her. He was wearing only some orange fur around his waist, held on by his long, similarly black striped tail that was wrapped around it. On his face he had comically long, white whiskers and two, forward protruding canine teeth, reaching down to his chin.
“And I never could understand why you are questioning your commanding officer.” She with a cold voice, not even looking at him. “Don’t forget Toothie, you were placed under me by the King’s orders.”
“You still dare to call me that?!” The man grumbled with a low voice, shaking the trees next to them, yet the woman just looked at him. The power behind her eyes quickly shut up the man called “Toothie”.
“One more word and I’ll break off one of your teeth and slit your throat with it. Got it? Just because you are a tiger, it does not mean you are above everybody else around you. You are here to act as the muscle and not the brain! Do what I tell you to do or I’ll kill you here and now for insubordination. Got it?”
“Hmf…” Toothie growled, crossing his arms before his chest, but he was saying no more, only twitching his eyelids subconsciously.
“General Tylvana.” A short, slim man arrived, who only reached up to Tylvana’s chest. He was wearing a dark green, scaly, tight fitting outfit, with a big hood that covered most of his face as he kneeled down before her.
“Speak.” Tylvana nodded with a much friendlier voice than she used while speaking to Toothie.
“This village is also abandoned. It is as if the tribes that should be here have vanished! No sights of them. Going by the clues I found, they probably left ten days ago.”
“I see.” She scratched her chin as she was thinking.
They arrived around a week ago but wherever they went, they only found abandoned homes, without anyone around. There were also no sightings of the group they sent here first. They should have already taken control over this part of the forest but they were also gone.
“Maybe they went overboard and some fighting broke out? So they went and exterminated them all?” The kneeling man asked.
“They were disciplined soldiers, not some backstabbing snakes.” Toothie snarled but Tylvana just raised her arm, grabbing onto the tail around his waist. She was squeezing it hard, making him cry out like a small cat, immediately falling to his knees.
“Insult my subordinate once more and I’ll make a snake out of you! I am going to start by cutting off your limbs so you can slither around us, as much as you want!” Tylvana said calmly, not even looking at him before letting go of his tail. The hooded figure just smiled, raising his head and his face was covered in glistering, green scales. His fork-like, purple tongue reached out, hissing quietly as he laughed at his misfortune. “What other clues did you find?” Tylvana asked.
“There were humans here.” The snake demon continued. “I looked carefully and I am sure they were humans’ trails and not demons’ in human form.”
“I see.” Tylvana nodded. “Good job Zazuba.” She signaled at him to raise as he stood behind her respectfully. “It is safe to assume that our scouting forces are already eliminated. Just by the pattern of the missing tribes, I’m sure that the remaining camps are also all empty. We wait for Letty’s return and we are going to move towards the west.”
Just as she finished, Letty has arrived. She was a cougar demon in the literal and human sense of the word too. Her human form was curvy and the thigh fitting leather clothing she wore, immediately made Toothie flinch. Since he met with her no day has passed when he was not trying to woo her.
“All empty.” Letty spoke up with a seductive voice, tucking her long, sand colored, straight hair behind her ear with a soft smile. She was looking at Tylvana like a mother would at her daughter. “But I found traces of blood! Sadly, I’m not a wolf to follow it to the source.”
“I can.” Zazuba said immediately.
“That is why I hurried back~” Letty nodded.
“Thank you.” Tylvana cupped her hands respectfully.
“Ahaha, you are the General, act like it~” She chuckled, patting her shoulders, making Tylvana form a small and charming smile.
Tylvana just couldn’t act like a soldier before her as she always reverted back to the small girl she once was in her presence. To the little kid that Letty knew oh so well. It was her who found Tylvana as a cub, abandoned in the forest. It was just after she lost her own children to the Tigers’ expansion. Since then, she raised her to the best of her abilities and watched proudly as Tylvana became one of the strongest in the Tiger King’s territory.
“Let’s go!” Tylvana ordered as they rushed forward, following Letty’s guidance. In the end they arrived at the trail that was not that far away from the abandoned homes of the lemurs.
“Interesting.” Zazuba crouched down. “This is fresh blood, not a day old.” He said while her long tongue stretched out multiple times, touching it. “This is panther blood.”
“And how are you able to tell?” Toothie asked.
“Because I already tasted it a few times.” chuckled, shooting him down very quickly. “This way!” He rushed forward, taking up the leading role in the group.
It only took a few minutes to finally arrive at a giant oak tree that was hollowed out. Inside of it they finally found Paku in a completely delirious state. Blood was flowing from his mouth as he was mumbling incoherently. He did not even react to their arrival, just laying on his stomach, growling in his demonic form. He was all scratched up and they were all self-inflicted injuries as his claws reeked from his own blood and flesh.
“What happened to him?” Letty furrowed her eyebrows.
“Maybe he was done in by a human.” Toothie shrugged his shoulders.
“Those injuries are made by his own claws, idiot.” Zazuba shook his head, going closer. Paku just ignored him, even when he touched his body. “I sense a human’s power, circling inside of him.”
“Is he being controlled by it?” Tylvana asked, crouching down next to Paku.
“Doesn’t seem like it. He is… completely gone. He has broken down mentally.” Zazuba shook his head. Tylvana, thinking a little in the end, took off one of her gauntlets, pressing her fair hand onto Paku’s panting forehead.
“Mmm… I can sense it. I’ll try to drag it out.” She whispered as her energy invaded Paku’s body. Soon he was whimpering loudly as sparks flew out from his wounds, cracking with the sound of electricity. “Shit!” Tylvana shouted, quickly stepping backwards as the purple electricity took the form of Ren, forming an ethereal projection of her. She was floating above Paku’s head, looking at them with a faint smile.
“I guessed that someone would try to drag me out of him.” She chuckled, tilting her head. “You must be General Tylvana.” She said as she looked at her calmly.
“If you know who I am, then you also know that you are going to die for what you did to him.”
“I doubt that.” Ren just shook her head flaring up Toothie’s temper. He was about to mock her but Letty held him back. She was not about to let anybody interrupt her General.
“Where are the others?” Tylvana asked.
“Why do you ask?” Ren laughed loudly. “You already know the answer, I killed them all! Look, I’m a busy woman! I assume you are in a similar shoe, so listen carefully! The place you are now is the territory of Thunder Valley. You encroached on it and committed crimes against our laws! Your people were punished by me and put to death.”
“What laws?! What punishment?! Thunder Valley? Never heard of it!” Toothie spat at her, roaring wildly. “This wilderness belongs to the King and not to a human!”
“I don’t see tigers living here, little kitty~” Ren continued, not even looking at him as she was still looking into Tylvana’s eyes. “I am compelled to warn you. Go back to your King and tell him that I killed one of his generals once, I’ll do it again if he keeps sending them here!” She explained patiently, finally turning Tylvana’s expression much more serious. She remembered the news. Even though Matu was not the best warrior, he had the best team around him. He shouldn’t have been killed in the south… yet he still perished here.
“So you are the human who did it…” Letty whispered. “The one who foolishly calls herself the “Thunder God”, huh?”
“Yeah, they are fools to call me that! I can agree with that sentiment.” Ren nodded with a completely serious expression. “I also know that you are the same fools who do not take my advice and stay here anyway. You know where to find me…” She smiled at them provocatively.
“Hmf! You can start preparing your funeral!” Toothie roared, punching forward, smashing towards Ren’s lightning clone.
“Heh, thanks!” She grinned, confusing them why she said that.
Soon, the incoming fist blasted her clone to pieces but at the same time Paku also screamed out. Ren’s powers were going berserk after being disturbed by his punch and Paku’s body was blasted to gory chunks. It left behind nothing more but a dismembered corpse.
“Hmf, weak!” Toothie snorted but when he turned, he was met with Letty’s cold and angry eyes. Zazuba was shaking his head while Tylvana was already standing further away, walking in a small circle. She usually did this when she was going through her thoughts, sorting them out one by one. “What?” Toothie asked. “I won’t let a human trash insult us!”
Zazuba just rolled his eyes, while Letty only snorted, turning her back to him. She was walking next to Tylvana, waiting for her to finish her thinking.
“We know too little about Thunder Valley’s real strength. Also, what we know is outdated. We have only information about them from Matu’s time and we can’t build on decades old intel.” Tylvana murmured as she was walking without stopping.
“It is impossible for stronger demons to appear in this short timeframe!” Toothie snorted. “We only need to watch out for that gorilla named Kang and for this human scum.”
“This is why you are never going to be more than a meatshield.” Zazuba laughed.
“One more word, you oversized worm and I’ll use you as a tail warmer!”
“Enough of you two!” Letty snapped at them. “Especially you, Toothie! Use your brain a little, however small it may be! How do you think your King conquered and united the different tribes?! Just by force?! He is not just the strongest fighter this forest has ever seen but also someone who can lay out plans! I fear the day he dies and everything falls apart!”
“Dare to say something like that?” Toothie snarled at her viciously. Mentioning the possibility of his King’s death was an even greater insult for the tigers than mocking them personally.
“I dare.” Letty nodded. “The truth is, that I saw no other tiger with the same foresight as him. Why do you think all of his Generals are from different tribes?” She smiled sarcastically. “Where are the other, capable tigers? Oh? At the front lines? How weird…”
“You!” Toothie stepped forward, flexing his muscles but Tylvana just stopped walking at that moment. With one of her feet still in the end, everybody else was also frozen in place. They were feeling her dangerously glowing eyes, scanning them one by one.
“We were late. That is a fact.” Tylvana said, slowly putting down her leg. “We can’t rush in. Going to Thunder Valley would be suicide as they could overwhelm us with numbers alone.”
“So what? Should we just tuck our tails in and rush home? I won’t do something so cowardly!” Toothie stomped on the ground, clearly angry but he couldn’t release his anger towards anyone in the group. He was feeling stuffed and suffocated at that moment.
“We won’t.” Tylvana said, shaking her head. “Zazuba.”
“Yes.” Answered, already kneeling.
“Go, scout out the forest around us! Find every demonic creature who is yet to gain true intelligence.”
“Yes.” He acknowledged his orders and left immediately, without further questions.
“You are trying…” Letty murmured, watching Tylvana who just smiled, nodding at her.
“Huh?” Toothie looked at them, scratching his head, unable to put one and two together.
“We are going to incur a beast tide and lead them towards their city. Let them deal with it! We can strike amongst the chaos.” Letty explained, enlightening the tiger of the group.
“Still.” Tylvana continued. “I’ll send a message back to the King, that the south has united way sooner than we anticipated. This is not good! We either speed up our conquest of the dogs of the north or we split our fighting forces and start a war on two fronts.”
“This is truly not good.” Letty agreed, crossing her arms.
“It is not…” Tylvana agreed, her face looking grim and serious.
…
….
…..
“They are here.” Ren walked into Niji’s office. “My clone has been destroyed after making contact with the reinforcement. At least they gave a reason for me to kill the kid.”
“You would’ve killed him anyway!” Niji rolled his eyes, hearing her. “You knew that they would try to extract your powers from him. He was marked for death, as soon as you put your hands on him.” Niji sighed, shaking his head.
“True.” Ren answered, sticking out her tongue. “I would not let loose a potential trouble to come back later and hurt my friends.” She nodded, not putting up any act before him, making Niji sigh again.
“So? How strong are they?” He stood up from his chair, clearly serious about what she just told him.
“I couldn’t get a good read but the one who smashed my clone is around the same strength as Kang. There were three others with them and the one I was speaking with had a strong, commanding aura. Which of us is stronger is yet to be seen. I’d need to fight with her to have a good feel of her capabilities.”
“That… does not sound good.” Niji mumbled quietly.
“Relax! It’s not like they are going to march into the city just like that! For now triple the scouting parties and keep an eye out for them! They are going to try sneaking in both on the surface and below the ground.”
“I already notified the tribes. You really put a huge amount of workload on my shoulders, Ren!” He shook his head with a smile. “Finding a suitable place for the newcomers wasn’t easy… and now this!”
“Stop moaning! I saw that you were happy to finally not deal with only mundane tasks! You now had the perfect reason to pass those down to other tribe leaders, while you focused on your new, ‘most important’ work at hand!” Ren grinned, elbowing him.
“Heh… Okay, I won’t say anything then! Tsk… if we would have more flying demons at our side…”
“About that.” Ren leaned back, with a curious light in her eyes. “I was always wondering where they were! Besides the fairies, those bugs, years back and the owls… I rarely see flying demonic tribes.”
“Because they live in the middle of the forest.” Niji answered after a short pause.
“With the ents?” She raised her eyebrows. “Are they also being controlled?”
“We don’t know for sure. But through the long years, sometimes, some birds did come out, doing the ents biddings. For what we know at the moment, they were not under their control. We don’t know more, but most of the flying demons live inside the ents’ territory. Probably as subordinates.”
“Hmm… Sometime in the future, I ought to pay a visit to them…” Ren whispered, thinking out loudly.
“Please don’t… it isn’t worth the risk.”
“I’m going to be forced to do so.” She shook her head. “Shaman had a breakthrough and I won’t let him do it alone. Give a few more years and we are going to have something against them! But let’s drop this for now! We need to focus on the trouble at hand!”
“Okay, I’ll call a council meeting for tomorrow and let us discuss it with the tribe leaders!”
“Sure, I’ll attend too! I want to meet them and get a feel for how this city is shaping up under the surface~” She said with a small smile.
A beautiful, slim figure of a woman was standing by a small stream, watching her reflection on the water’s surface. She had curly, chestnut colored hair and she was wearing an old knight’s armor set. Her gauntlets were modified and they resembled that of a metallic claw, with retractable blades hidden in its fingers. Her face was pretty and mature while her neck was covered in a golden colored fur with black spots on it. Her amber colored eyes were shining watching the dawn slowly illuminate the forest with light.
“I never could understand why you are wearing that heavy piece of garbage.” A voice came from behind her as a tall, muscular man walked up next to her. He was wearing only some orange fur around his waist, held on by his long, similarly black striped tail that was wrapped around it. On his face he had comically long, white whiskers and two, forward protruding canine teeth, reaching down to his chin.
“And I never could understand why you are questioning your commanding officer.” She with a cold voice, not even looking at him. “Don’t forget Toothie, you were placed under me by the King’s orders.”
“You still dare to call me that?!” The man grumbled with a low voice, shaking the trees next to them, yet the woman just looked at him. The power behind her eyes quickly shut up the man called “Toothie”.
“One more word and I’ll break off one of your teeth and slit your throat with it. Got it? Just because you are a tiger, it does not mean you are above everybody else around you. You are here to act as the muscle and not the brain! Do what I tell you to do or I’ll kill you here and now for insubordination. Got it?”
“Hmf…” Toothie growled, crossing his arms before his chest, but he was saying no more, only twitching his eyelids subconsciously.
“General Tylvana.” A short, slim man arrived, who only reached up to Tylvana’s chest. He was wearing a dark green, scaly, tight fitting outfit, with a big hood that covered most of his face as he kneeled down before her.
“Speak.” Tylvana nodded with a much friendlier voice than she used while speaking to Toothie.
“This village is also abandoned. It is as if the tribes that should be here have vanished! No sights of them. Going by the clues I found, they probably left ten days ago.”
“I see.” She scratched her chin as she was thinking.
They arrived around a week ago but wherever they went, they only found abandoned homes, without anyone around. There were also no sightings of the group they sent here first. They should have already taken control over this part of the forest but they were also gone.
“Maybe they went overboard and some fighting broke out? So they went and exterminated them all?” The kneeling man asked.
“They were disciplined soldiers, not some backstabbing snakes.” Toothie snarled but Tylvana just raised her arm, grabbing onto the tail around his waist. She was squeezing it hard, making him cry out like a small cat, immediately falling to his knees.
“Insult my subordinate once more and I’ll make a snake out of you! I am going to start by cutting off your limbs so you can slither around us, as much as you want!” Tylvana said calmly, not even looking at him before letting go of his tail. The hooded figure just smiled, raising his head and his face was covered in glistering, green scales. His fork-like, purple tongue reached out, hissing quietly as he laughed at his misfortune. “What other clues did you find?” Tylvana asked.
“There were humans here.” The snake demon continued. “I looked carefully and I am sure they were humans’ trails and not demons’ in human form.”
“I see.” Tylvana nodded. “Good job Zazuba.” She signaled at him to raise as he stood behind her respectfully. “It is safe to assume that our scouting forces are already eliminated. Just by the pattern of the missing tribes, I’m sure that the remaining camps are also all empty. We wait for Letty’s return and we are going to move towards the west.”
Just as she finished, Letty has arrived. She was a cougar demon in the literal and human sense of the word too. Her human form was curvy and the thigh fitting leather clothing she wore, immediately made Toothie flinch. Since he met with her no day has passed when he was not trying to woo her.
“All empty.” Letty spoke up with a seductive voice, tucking her long, sand colored, straight hair behind her ear with a soft smile. She was looking at Tylvana like a mother would at her daughter. “But I found traces of blood! Sadly, I’m not a wolf to follow it to the source.”
“I can.” Zazuba said immediately.
“That is why I hurried back~” Letty nodded.
“Thank you.” Tylvana cupped her hands respectfully.
“Ahaha, you are the General, act like it~” She chuckled, patting her shoulders, making Tylvana form a small and charming smile.
Tylvana just couldn’t act like a soldier before her as she always reverted back to the small girl she once was in her presence. To the little kid that Letty knew oh so well. It was her who found Tylvana as a cub, abandoned in the forest. It was just after she lost her own children to the Tigers’ expansion. Since then, she raised her to the best of her abilities and watched proudly as Tylvana became one of the strongest in the Tiger King’s territory.
“Let’s go!” Tylvana ordered as they rushed forward, following Letty’s guidance. In the end they arrived at the trail that was not that far away from the abandoned homes of the lemurs.
“Interesting.” Zazuba crouched down. “This is fresh blood, not a day old.” He said while her long tongue stretched out multiple times, touching it. “This is panther blood.”
“And how are you able to tell?” Toothie asked.
“Because I already tasted it a few times.” chuckled, shooting him down very quickly. “This way!” He rushed forward, taking up the leading role in the group.
It only took a few minutes to finally arrive at a giant oak tree that was hollowed out. Inside of it they finally found Paku in a completely delirious state. Blood was flowing from his mouth as he was mumbling incoherently. He did not even react to their arrival, just laying on his stomach, growling in his demonic form. He was all scratched up and they were all self-inflicted injuries as his claws reeked from his own blood and flesh.
“What happened to him?” Letty furrowed her eyebrows.
“Maybe he was done in by a human.” Toothie shrugged his shoulders.
“Those injuries are made by his own claws, idiot.” Zazuba shook his head, going closer. Paku just ignored him, even when he touched his body. “I sense a human’s power, circling inside of him.”
“Is he being controlled by it?” Tylvana asked, crouching down next to Paku.
“Doesn’t seem like it. He is… completely gone. He has broken down mentally.” Zazuba shook his head. Tylvana, thinking a little in the end, took off one of her gauntlets, pressing her fair hand onto Paku’s panting forehead.
“Mmm… I can sense it. I’ll try to drag it out.” She whispered as her energy invaded Paku’s body. Soon he was whimpering loudly as sparks flew out from his wounds, cracking with the sound of electricity. “Shit!” Tylvana shouted, quickly stepping backwards as the purple electricity took the form of Ren, forming an ethereal projection of her. She was floating above Paku’s head, looking at them with a faint smile.
“I guessed that someone would try to drag me out of him.” She chuckled, tilting her head. “You must be General Tylvana.” She said as she looked at her calmly.
“If you know who I am, then you also know that you are going to die for what you did to him.”
“I doubt that.” Ren just shook her head flaring up Toothie’s temper. He was about to mock her but Letty held him back. She was not about to let anybody interrupt her General.
“Where are the others?” Tylvana asked.
“Why do you ask?” Ren laughed loudly. “You already know the answer, I killed them all! Look, I’m a busy woman! I assume you are in a similar shoe, so listen carefully! The place you are now is the territory of Thunder Valley. You encroached on it and committed crimes against our laws! Your people were punished by me and put to death.”
“What laws?! What punishment?! Thunder Valley? Never heard of it!” Toothie spat at her, roaring wildly. “This wilderness belongs to the King and not to a human!”
“I don’t see tigers living here, little kitty~” Ren continued, not even looking at him as she was still looking into Tylvana’s eyes. “I am compelled to warn you. Go back to your King and tell him that I killed one of his generals once, I’ll do it again if he keeps sending them here!” She explained patiently, finally turning Tylvana’s expression much more serious. She remembered the news. Even though Matu was not the best warrior, he had the best team around him. He shouldn’t have been killed in the south… yet he still perished here.
“So you are the human who did it…” Letty whispered. “The one who foolishly calls herself the “Thunder God”, huh?”
“Yeah, they are fools to call me that! I can agree with that sentiment.” Ren nodded with a completely serious expression. “I also know that you are the same fools who do not take my advice and stay here anyway. You know where to find me…” She smiled at them provocatively.
“Hmf! You can start preparing your funeral!” Toothie roared, punching forward, smashing towards Ren’s lightning clone.
“Heh, thanks!” She grinned, confusing them why she said that.
Soon, the incoming fist blasted her clone to pieces but at the same time Paku also screamed out. Ren’s powers were going berserk after being disturbed by his punch and Paku’s body was blasted to gory chunks. It left behind nothing more but a dismembered corpse.
“Hmf, weak!” Toothie snorted but when he turned, he was met with Letty’s cold and angry eyes. Zazuba was shaking his head while Tylvana was already standing further away, walking in a small circle. She usually did this when she was going through her thoughts, sorting them out one by one. “What?” Toothie asked. “I won’t let a human trash insult us!”
Zazuba just rolled his eyes, while Letty only snorted, turning her back to him. She was walking next to Tylvana, waiting for her to finish her thinking.
“We know too little about Thunder Valley’s real strength. Also, what we know is outdated. We have only information about them from Matu’s time and we can’t build on decades old intel.” Tylvana murmured as she was walking without stopping.
“It is impossible for stronger demons to appear in this short timeframe!” Toothie snorted. “We only need to watch out for that gorilla named Kang and for this human scum.”
“This is why you are never going to be more than a meatshield.” Zazuba laughed.
“One more word, you oversized worm and I’ll use you as a tail warmer!”
“Enough of you two!” Letty snapped at them. “Especially you, Toothie! Use your brain a little, however small it may be! How do you think your King conquered and united the different tribes?! Just by force?! He is not just the strongest fighter this forest has ever seen but also someone who can lay out plans! I fear the day he dies and everything falls apart!”
“Dare to say something like that?” Toothie snarled at her viciously. Mentioning the possibility of his King’s death was an even greater insult for the tigers than mocking them personally.
“I dare.” Letty nodded. “The truth is, that I saw no other tiger with the same foresight as him. Why do you think all of his Generals are from different tribes?” She smiled sarcastically. “Where are the other, capable tigers? Oh? At the front lines? How weird…”
“You!” Toothie stepped forward, flexing his muscles but Tylvana just stopped walking at that moment. With one of her feet still in the end, everybody else was also frozen in place. They were feeling her dangerously glowing eyes, scanning them one by one.
“We were late. That is a fact.” Tylvana said, slowly putting down her leg. “We can’t rush in. Going to Thunder Valley would be suicide as they could overwhelm us with numbers alone.”
“So what? Should we just tuck our tails in and rush home? I won’t do something so cowardly!” Toothie stomped on the ground, clearly angry but he couldn’t release his anger towards anyone in the group. He was feeling stuffed and suffocated at that moment.
“We won’t.” Tylvana said, shaking her head. “Zazuba.”
“Yes.” Answered, already kneeling.
“Go, scout out the forest around us! Find every demonic creature who is yet to gain true intelligence.”
“Yes.” He acknowledged his orders and left immediately, without further questions.
“You are trying…” Letty murmured, watching Tylvana who just smiled, nodding at her.
“Huh?” Toothie looked at them, scratching his head, unable to put one and two together.
“We are going to incur a beast tide and lead them towards their city. Let them deal with it! We can strike amongst the chaos.” Letty explained, enlightening the tiger of the group.
“Still.” Tylvana continued. “I’ll send a message back to the King, that the south has united way sooner than we anticipated. This is not good! We either speed up our conquest of the dogs of the north or we split our fighting forces and start a war on two fronts.”
“This is truly not good.” Letty agreed, crossing her arms.
“It is not…” Tylvana agreed, her face looking grim and serious.
…
….
…..
“They are here.” Ren walked into Niji’s office. “My clone has been destroyed after making contact with the reinforcement. At least they gave a reason for me to kill the kid.”
“You would’ve killed him anyway!” Niji rolled his eyes, hearing her. “You knew that they would try to extract your powers from him. He was marked for death, as soon as you put your hands on him.” Niji sighed, shaking his head.
“True.” Ren answered, sticking out her tongue. “I would not let loose a potential trouble to come back later and hurt my friends.” She nodded, not putting up any act before him, making Niji sigh again.
“So? How strong are they?” He stood up from his chair, clearly serious about what she just told him.
“I couldn’t get a good read but the one who smashed my clone is around the same strength as Kang. There were three others with them and the one I was speaking with had a strong, commanding aura. Which of us is stronger is yet to be seen. I’d need to fight with her to have a good feel of her capabilities.”
“That… does not sound good.” Niji mumbled quietly.
“Relax! It’s not like they are going to march into the city just like that! For now triple the scouting parties and keep an eye out for them! They are going to try sneaking in both on the surface and below the ground.”
“I already notified the tribes. You really put a huge amount of workload on my shoulders, Ren!” He shook his head with a smile. “Finding a suitable place for the newcomers wasn’t easy… and now this!”
“Stop moaning! I saw that you were happy to finally not deal with only mundane tasks! You now had the perfect reason to pass those down to other tribe leaders, while you focused on your new, ‘most important’ work at hand!” Ren grinned, elbowing him.
“Heh… Okay, I won’t say anything then! Tsk… if we would have more flying demons at our side…”
“About that.” Ren leaned back, with a curious light in her eyes. “I was always wondering where they were! Besides the fairies, those bugs, years back and the owls… I rarely see flying demonic tribes.”
“Because they live in the middle of the forest.” Niji answered after a short pause.
“With the ents?” She raised her eyebrows. “Are they also being controlled?”
“We don’t know for sure. But through the long years, sometimes, some birds did come out, doing the ents biddings. For what we know at the moment, they were not under their control. We don’t know more, but most of the flying demons live inside the ents’ territory. Probably as subordinates.”
“Hmm… Sometime in the future, I ought to pay a visit to them…” Ren whispered, thinking out loudly.
“Please don’t… it isn’t worth the risk.”
“I’m going to be forced to do so.” She shook her head. “Shaman had a breakthrough and I won’t let him do it alone. Give a few more years and we are going to have something against them! But let’s drop this for now! We need to focus on the trouble at hand!”
“Okay, I’ll call a council meeting for tomorrow and let us discuss it with the tribe leaders!”
“Sure, I’ll attend too! I want to meet them and get a feel for how this city is shaping up under the surface~” She said with a small smile.
