First, for the week's news, if you remember last week's unexpected leak about a new book, turns out it's Shizuka finally getting a playable book! (thanks to the Discord fellas for the tip) Which is ironic considering how we see the Unlimited story aggresively ignoring her, but what can you do...
Also, got tired of the annoying, daily, disgusting spam comments, so I put Disqus in the blog, lemme know if something doesn't work.
Now on with the story, this is the first chapter my partner let me proofread on my own, so hope you like it, if you feel something could be improved, let me know~
Aaand lastly, you might remember how back in WT Airi EX story, I mentioned a serious incident involving Airi in the Unlimited story? Well, this is it! :3
Whew, wasn't that a lot of info for a random post!
So, enjoy!
Ch 3: Beautiful Fighters Vanquished (Part 1)
Airi Vs The Kouma Ninja Corps
Now in the port city, Airi had gotten tasked with arranging an inn, which was never something that bothered her. Her reaching a state where her maid clothes looked slightly see-through under the sunlight, on the other hand, did.
“Sheesh… being a wraith *does* get tough sometimes…”
She might have been complaining, but still showed a genuine smile. Despite having hit some rough patches, every day working as Elina’s attendant filled her with a sense of fulfillment.
Granted, she had been acting as a maid ever since her summon to this world… yet she couldn’t help but wonder if her failing to meet the witch’s expectations had been the cause why she wound up tasked with the search for the magical flute.
“If Lady Elina had been my Mistress from the very beginning…”
Hearing from her own mouth how her loyalty was wavering, she shook the thought away.
“No, stop with that, Lady Elina is just a temporary Mistress.”
As she tried to convince herself, she stepped into the side street next to the inn and…
(Did the atmosphere… just change?)
Being a wraith provided Airi with a better perceptiveness than any plain old human. Specifically, she could sense others’ essences.
It appeared some sort of barrier covered both ends of that side street. Not any of the people around her venturing inside looked like enough proof of the fact.
In total, she detected four presences, skillfully hidden each and everyone. Pinpointing them with such ease would have been a tall order for anyone else.
“Do you have any business with me?”
Airi called out to them.
[Now that they know I’m aware of them, no point in them launching a surprise attack. And with a little luck, I can avoid a pointless battle.]
“I do have some urgent task to take care of, so if I could bother you to postpone this for some other time…”
“Not a chance, servant.”
A man’s voice sounded from underfoot. An odd-looking ninja popped out from her shadow.
“Kouma Ninja Corps, Nagare of the Shadows.”
Not taking kindly to his appearance, Airi stomped on his head.
However, his body seemed to slip around her foot. Just like a shadow would.
“I bear no grudge towards thee, servant, but I shalt be confining thee here.”
His body became a jet-black shadow, that climbed up her body.
“Iyah! What’s this?”
“My body is a shadow. Thy capture will send a fine message.”
He whispered in her ears.
“A shadow…? Well then: lesser spirits!”
In response to her call, the ghastly light of a lesser spirit covered all around her.
“Kuh!”
The new source of light worked to drive the shadows away from her, and the ninja with them.
“*Chuckle*, you screwed up, Nagare.”
A part of the boarded wall nearby swelled up, and a ninja with a soft, flabby body appeared from within.
“Kouma Ninja Corps, Hanzaki of the Slime.”
“I’m honored to make your acquaintances, really, but I’m in no mood for introductions.”
The maid used the head of the recently appeared ninja as a stepping stone, and jumped towards the inn’s roof. She deduced that would be the most probable position for their leader, as it allowed one to look over the whole battlefield.
“You think we’ll let you?”
Hanzaki’s tongue stretched towards her, before her jump could reach the roof’s tiles.
“Wait, what is this?”
His tongue wound around her legs.
“Kuh!”
Even as she was being pulled back down towards the alley, Airi still had the clarity of mind to send lesser spirits towards her foe.
With enough energy at her disposal, getting rid of those Kouma ninjas would have been no issue for her. In fact, she recalled having taken on some of their peers back at Hinomoto, along with Elina.
However, her current situation allowed for no such comfort. She had been running low on essence ever since before the battle, and calling for spirits in succession meant that maintaining her maid clothes was becoming increasingly harder.
Trading a few more attacks would have her moving around in her underwear. Her only hope was toughing it out until she could obtain some essence from Elina.
[I *have* to get through this…]
The lesser spirits approached the slime ninja.
[Move out of the way of my will-o’-the-wisp, or prepare to get seriously burned.]
Her lesser spirits not only drained a person’s stamina, but inflicted physical pain as well.
However, he did nothing to avoid it, or even try to repel it.
What he did was, swallowing it.
“Gross…”
A vulgar burp adorned his words.
“Wha?”
She hadn’t been prepared for that outcome. It was the first time someone had dared to eat up her lesser spirits.
“Nagareee, you planning on lurking there much longer?”
The shadow ninja reappeared from the shadows as his silent response.
“It appears there’s no choice but to fight…”
Her mind made up, Airi materialized her scythe.
“I might not know what you’re after, but don’t think I’ll just comply obediently.”
She supposed it was nothing personal with her, and they were instead trying to make her out as some sort of bait. All the more reason why she had to rejoin Elina and the others as soon as she could manage.
“Do prepare yourselves!”
The words were barely out of her mouth when a dagger flew at her from the sky.
“Kuh!”
Busy repelling it with her own weapon, she couldn’t prevent Nagare’s shadow from coiling around her feet.
“Good! Just hold her down!”
Hanzaki charged towards the immobilized wraith. He might have looked soft and flabby, but she didn’t think letting that giant body of his slam against her was something she could just brush off.
“L-Lesser spirits!”
She summoned them once again to make Nagare’s shadow vanish… at the cost of her maid clothes.
And the slime ninja sure appreciated the stripping show.
“You have guts, I’ll give you that!”
Sure Airi could move again now, but given how close he was at the moment, it was painfully clear to her that no amount of dodging could work.
And so, she didn’t even try to step out of the way. Instead, she swung down her scythe at his head with zero hesitation. The very sharp weapon she boasted of struck true on its target and violently split his head in two.
In normal circumstances, that would have been a deadly blow.
However, he never stopped.
“Wha?”
He went on to crash against Airi, bisected head and all.
“Gufufu, gufu…”
“L-Let me go! Why you!”
Slimy bodily fluids stained her body.
“*Chuckle*... the bodily fluids of this great Lord Hanzaki have a numbing effect…”
The head that should have stayed split into two rejoined itself once anew.
“A-Are you immortal?”
The surprised cry escaped Airi’s mouth before she even noticed.
“If you want to kill Hanzaki, you must either burn him, or drown him.”
She heard a new voice, probably a third Kouma. Unlike the previous two men, this one sounded like a woman.
“Should we consider our request fulfilled with this?”
“Not yet. We need to join with the snake, and provide some backup.”
Another voice, a girl, replied. One could assume her to be the client those Kouma were answering to.
[Which means, that so-called snake must be attacking Lady Elina at the moment. If I had been full of essence, we could have faced her together.]
Biting her lips in frustration, Airi prepared to absorb Hanzaki’s essence…
But stopped.
‘Don’t absorb essence from anyone but Elina.’
The promise she had made at Queen’s Blade that inviolably bound her to Elina.
She’d sooner accept defeat in that situation, rather than breaking her oath and losing her pride in the process.
“I do suppose this is as far as I can make it.”
Her voice sounded almost relieved, even considering how the body of the slime ninja still laid on top of hers.
“Ooh…?”
The flattened wraith started disappearing; the two women, not missing that, cautiously reached for their respective weapons.
“Guh… gegegegeh…”
Hanzaki’s body started convulsing, as he began to moan oddly.
A scythe suddenly appeared near his back, then proceeded to cut through his body whole.
“Guaaaaaah!”
As he screamt, the nearly transparent womanly figure of the maid made its way through his torn off body.
“It’s regrettable that I won’t be able to help Lady Elina… however, could I ask for your name, if you don’t mind?”
The wraith asked, wiping bodily fluids off herself.
“And you think she’ll just tell you?”
The third Kouma sounded flippant, and with the way she shrugged her shoulders, maybe she didn’t care at that point.
“Irma, Assassin of the Fang… I’m capturing you, following my orders.”
Even the assassin could feel the maid’s frustration at admitting defeat. That must have been her first enemy behaving so graciously in such a situation, not to mention how her body looked about to vanish into thin air.
As a way to show respect, the assassin gave her own name.
“Then, Lady Irma, I have two last messages. If it’s okay with you, could you please pass them along to my mistress, Lady Elina?”
The assassin nodded in silence.
Glad to find such a generous foe, Airi kept talking.
“Much appreciated. One of them is, ‘I reserved the Silver Twilight Pavillion inn’. I asked for the best room, given that Lady Elina was fatigued from our short trip.”
“You’re still worried about your mistress, even now?”
The Kouma woman’s retort wasn’t something Irma found humorous, if the latter’s scowl was anything to go by.
“The other one is this.”
Airi’s hand went to the collar chained to her neck. It was the only item that stayed solid as her body and undergarments gradually disappeared.
“I received this collar from Lady Elina. I’d like to return it.”
Leaving behind those words, her body vanished for good, and with it the wedge spreading out the slime ninja’s body.
“Nuah!”
He made a surprised voice. And yet, he seemed to have suffered little damage, as the deep gash inflicted on his body became covered with mucus and closed up in the blink of an eye.
“Is she gone now? How’d she even…?”
He stood up from the floor. The only proof she had ever been there was the collar by his feet.
“Too bad… I thought I’d be having a bit more fun, what a letdown.”
He slowly retreated, disappointment clearly showing in his face.
“She barely sliced me any, talk about blueballing.”
Apparently, getting his own body chopped up was quite the source of pleasure for the slime ninja.
Irma jumped down and picked up that single collar.
“Wait, are you really going to grant her wishes now? I just don’t get you.”
Sagiri, the ninja who hadn’t actually gotten to introduce herself, regarded her suspiciously.
“I’m not like the snake. There was pride to that wraith.”
The assassin pocketed the collar and prepared to give orders to the Kouma again:
“Shall we move on to the next job, then?”
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