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Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

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Éliane had been surprised to see that their itinerant moogle had made it out physically unscathed despite the violent melee, although she doubted the same was for his fur and mental state. Well, she was sure the little man would be fine after a few days, a brush, and some drink, no biggie. More importantly, she and Galahad had been able to recover the chocobos—by some miracle, they too had been unharmed, and hadn’t been scattered to the point of loss.

Like any sensible party, they made camp some ways away from the fight. To her annoyance, a campfire was not an option; there would be no easy hot brews of coffee for her, a fact made all the worse since she expected to take watch for the night. Where was that black mage that could easily solve that issue for her? In fact… where had he been during the entire battle?

Nonetheless, the respite was welcome. A good meal after going hunting was made all the better by the way Lord Leonhardt had their provisioning arranged, and the food that was available in the wagon was nearly fit for a lesser feast, even if Éliane still found the quality of the bread wanting.

Even if there were only so many ways to bake hard tack.

After tearing into the food, she had to stare longingly at the coffee beans she had in her pouch, before deciding to just pop some in her mouth.

“Watches? It’s all the same to me,” she shrugged. “I’ll take whatever.”

Bible of Ichor: Septet for the Dead

Giselle de Farry

Undead Princess, de Farry

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And just like that, it was done. Between Akyasha and Giselle, they had finally severed the red threads of fate, releasing Kordelia from her puppeteer. The white-haired vampire would have thought there would have been a little bit more pomp and circumstance to the end of such an intense fight and such a momentous resolution, such as a heroic reunion, but… no. The beast princess’s transformed figure promptly and unceremoniously faceplanted into the ground, the hands disappeared, and all that reigned was silence.

The Farisian princess shared a look with her smaller counterpart before carefully approaching their erstwhile foe’s prone form. There was a worry in her mind that their fight had done more damage than she’d wanted, or Ichor forbid, whatever that possessed her had done more than simply snatch her body.

That was, until she heard the beating of the heart that she still possessed from the cathedral, and the warmth of the dagger that she had strapped to her thigh.

The voice that entered her mind told her what she needed to do.

With an almost wry smile on her face, dismissing her ribbon, she approached the fallen vampire, producing the beating heart in one hand, and the sacred dagger in the other as she knelt in front of her. She raised the dagger.

“Pardon me,” she murmured, before plunging the dagger into the chest of the transformed vampire. With another motion, she shoved the heart into Kordelia, before slowly stepping back.

The Maids Guide to Demon Hunting

Polina Laye

Farisian Maid

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“In the Principality, we throw out unexpected guests and politely yet firmly tell them to leave and never come back,” Polina quipped, yet half-heartedly grousing. She was all for interesting experiences, but that ended when it was directed at her and more inconvenient than it was worth. The meddling of the Church was one, for example.

With a nod of acknowledgement to Lucrecia in her role as their guard, she accepted Livia’s hand, schooling her face into a noble bearing with a light smile of her own—that wasn’t too hard, considering her tendency to plaster a poker face even as a maid. Really, there weren’t too many differences in etiquette in carrying yourself as a noble lady versus falling into the role of a high-class maid.

Maids for high-ranking nobles or royalty tended to be nobles themselves, after all. Polina had just gone about the recruitment for her positions in a slightly more unorthodox way.

As they entered, she glanced about, allowing herself to take in the sights somewhat less subtly than she would as a maid on a combat mission. As a noble’s abode went, it wasn’t particularly exceptional, although Polina thought the man that owned it had overused the amount of gold leaf a little bit. It was on character if anything, though.

It didn’t take too long for Polina to catch the two members of the church among the crowd of nobles and other distinguished guests. Apart from their unique garb that stood out in the sea of noble splendor, they were being ostracized by the other guests. Understandably so.

“They seem rather lonely tonight, so it would be the only polite thing to do,” Polina replied, agreeing with Livia’s suggestion –obviously an order—despite her own distaste of the clergywomen.

Bible of Ichor: Septet for the Dead

Giselle de Farry

Undead Princess, de Farry

---

Giselle was pleased by the success of their change in strategy, but it still wasn’t good enough. Fully aware that the vast majority of the beasts had been sent towards the village, she had her doubts on whether or not the rest of the vampire lords could pull off a successful defense. From what little she had seen of the small town, it was not well equipped for a basic siege, let alone a massed assault of creatures twisted by dark magic.

Yet even with attrition now in favor of herself and Aleksiya, they still had her match in Kordelia. The stronger vampire beating down on her sword made her wince in pain at each blow, even as she continued to cut her strings with her ribbon whip. Even as their puppeted opponent seemed to have exhausted her tricks to expend, she was caught off-guard by what little she seemed to have left.

Wincing at the deafening roar, she opted to mutually extend the distance between them even as she fanned out her ribbon whip just in time for the fragments of blood to shoot out at herself and Aleksiya. Her new weapon was immediately torn apart, but did the trick in mostly protecting her. Clicking her tongue in mild annoyance, she briefly checked over herself before carefully reforming the weapon, taking advantage of Kordelia’s seemingly fleeting attention before she began to work at the hand and its strings once more. Still resolved that removing its influence would be the best option, Giselle was determined to cut down the rest as she moved to slash out at the hand with the three remaining strings before going for the rest.

The Maids Guide to Demon Hunting

Polina Laye

Farisian Maid

---

With only a few days between the briefing and the mission, Polina too was a busy maid. She had taken the initiative to approach Tiki again for the second time in the past couple days for her to tailor a dress suitable for a noble at a ball while still being fit for combat. Taking to some training and preparation of her own, including acclimating to and making sure she could hide weapons with her selected garment, the Farisian maid felt as prepared as she could be on the day of the ball.

Sitting in the vehicle together with Livia and Lucrecia, Polina was wearing a shoulderless dress in dark blue. The cut of it was just low enough for some of her cleavage to be visible yet remain classy. The A-line cut of the garment terminated just below her knees, which were covered with black stockings and where a hidden handgun and combat knife were strapped to her upper thigh, together with smaller blades hidden under other parts of her dress. Like her mistress, she had a more visible sidearm strapped to a belt around her waist. It wasn’t the knightly sword that she more regularly used, but a smaller, thinner dress blade that was still common enough as a defense weapon among the nobility, and something that Polina was just as proficient in. Unlike her appearance as a maid, her blue-gray hair was let down and meticulously styled, leaving her the spitting image of a typical martially inclined noble lady from Farry.

“So, he’s not just a fool in messing with things beyond his understanding, but a typical idiot with new money that spends trying to get the approval of his betters,” Polina commented on Livia’s mini-briefing. Speaking more casually, she was already partially in character, but half of it was simply removing the filters from her inner monologue. “I can’t imagine his peers don’t hold certain opinions of him in private.”

She nodded, smoothing her dress as she agreed with Lucrecia’s questions. Polina added a question of her own, “Perhaps a bit late to ask this, but do we have a copy of the full guest list? Just in case there are more… problematic elements among them.” She eyed the parked horse-drawn carriage of the church as they passed it.

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

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As much as Éliane enjoyed the thrill of battle and the enjoyment of the hunt, the way the blightbeasts continued to come almost gave her pause. Almost. As dumb as the creatures were, she was sure that most social animals would have cut their losses long before it had gotten to this point. As much as the creatures continued to put up a fight, it was clear that the tide had long turned against them, and they were being slaughtered. Even now, Éliane continued to cut and blast her way through the formerly murderous creatures.

Finally, though, they broke. If they were men, they would have quit field long before this point. As is, she was sure that whatever social structure this pack had, it was as good as dead; the beasts had misjudged their mark terribly, and they would pay for it. Well, that really wasn’t her problem, was it?

“About time,” she exhaled, slightly winded herself. “But there’s nothing like being kept on your toes every so often.” Satisfied with the outcome, she checked over herself and her fellow companions for their condition. She frowned as she searched for their chocobos, which had been scattered during the battle. It would be very inconvenient if they lost any. She noted Arton’s concerns, adding Goug to the list of missing elements to their party.

Groaning, she spoke up. “I’ll go look for him. We need to round up the birds anyway.” At that, she began to double back towards where the ambush had started to search, her weapon still out in the event of needing to dispatch any straggling blightbeasts that got in her way.

Bible of Ichor: Septet for the Dead

Giselle de Farry

Undead Princess, de Farry

---

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Giselle muttered under her breath, temporarily foregoing refinement to vent her frustration at her own lack of progress. Thankfully, Aleksiya’s attack on the hand kept it anchored in place, although she wasn’t entirely sure how much it could move in the first place. If the red wires were too tedious to cut with her sword, then she could at least try something else. With the hand-creature pulling the wires taught, it even made it easier for her to sever them.

She let red ichor spool out from her free, outstretched palm, a pool of blood taking a formless shape in the air. Instead of letting it form into one of her more familiar weapons like a spear or another sword, though, she created some red thread of her own. It was not nearly as thin or long as the material that continued to puppet Kordelia, and after a moment of forming, it took a long, whip-like shape. She gave the blood weapon a few tentative waves, playing with it like a red ribbon from foreign dances she was familiar with in the far past. It was elegant, as she liked it, but with a dangerous edge to its free-flowing cord.

If the puppetmaster tried to stay out of reach of her sword, then it would have a far more difficult time with this. Kordelia seemed slowed; Giselle took advantage of this as she guarded with her sword, all the while her long whip lashed out at the threads that controlled the princess of beasts. Letting it crack out at her target, she hoped to sever them outright this time. If not, well, she’d just wrap around the threads and pull.

The Maids Guide to Demon Hunting

Polina Laye

Farisian Maid

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Polina perked up as Livia called her out by name. It would seem that her credentials had been noticed after all… Although even if Giselle hadn’t seen it fit to provide more details on her employable skills during her correspondence with Livia, the Farisian maid doubted that mistress of the Violet Garden didn’t have the intelligence resources to build a robust profile on every maid that she employed.

Either way, Polina was eminently qualified for either task. She considered herself exceptionally skilled at bodyguarding, and no doubt Lucrecia had a similar skillset, but she ultimately found the role a bore. She found herself far more interested in playing the role of a noble for a night. Those were some skills that she didn’t get to use often, and one night of somewhat unrestrained amusement sounded like a good time to her. She glanced towards Lucrecia, raising an eyebrow in silent communication before speaking to Livia. “It would be my pleasure to act as your escort for the ball, mistress,” she replied, with a light smile.

Assuming Lucrecia hadn’t an issue with it, she was a good bodyguard, too. Polina suspected that Livia didn’t truly need a bodyguard, but she had no real evidence to back it up.

She felt excited. This was going to be a fun mission. Now, how far could she play the role of an unhinged Farisian noble without jeopardizing the mission too much? Hmm.

Maybe she could get away with a reasonable amount, considering the demon maid would be tagging along. It really seemed like a recipe for disaster. Well, that wasn’t her problem, was it?

Bible of Ichor: Septet for the Dead

Giselle de Farry

Undead Princess, de Farry

---

Giselle had a soft spot for maids, but she tolerated insolence from precious few of them. The ones she did… were long gone. At least for now. Fuck your ‘investment,’ she thought. She considered herself a chill vampire lord, and an even more relaxed princess, but being talked down to like dirt while threatening a village into extinction…. And defiling the mind, memory, and sanctity of a fellow lord… Such things were beyond the pale.

If only she had the power or information to do anything about it. For all of the maid’s arrogance, it was warranted, in a way, when Giselle and Aleksiya were still weak after reawakening. The white-haired vampire could only scowl in displeasure as the wretched maid stole away into the neverending night.

Unlike Aleksiya, there was no smile on her face as she moved to dismantle the spectral creature that the maid had left behind. There was only grim determination as she struck out at both the hands and the crimson threads that remained to manipulate the poor beast princess. Giselle was not so confident that removing the hand and the strange thread manipulating her body would free Kordelia, but nonetheless, the obstacle conveniently remained for the Farisian princess as the outlet for her anger.

Perhaps Giselle might not have been as fast as a manipulated Kordelia, but sufficiently motivated, she could still move. As Aleksiya played with the hand itself, she snapped out at the threads still controlling Kordelia, slashing first with a wide arc with her silver blade, before turning into focus on each individual thread had her initial sweep failed to find purchase.

The Maids Guide to Demon Hunting

Polina Laye

Farisian Maid

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Polina considered it a test of her wills to not react to Eliz’s very predictable response to her little comment, but somehow, she managed her trademark indifferent look. “If you are fishing for complements, I’m the wrong maid to give it,” she replied. Even if my opinions are different in private.

Seeing Kat approach, the Farisian maid decided discretion was the better part of valor and began to make her way to the briefing at Mariarca’s prompting. She knew a disaster when she saw one, though she made sure to keep the two maids in her periphery for her own amusement even as she cleared the zone of prospective violence. “Though, it is strange that you would be upset. I’d consider it a compliment from Kat,” she muttered under her breath, but loud enough for the involved parties to hear.

Regardless of the fallout, she soon found herself standing in line in front of a wall in the briefing room. Much of it was what Polina could expect, but what the mistress of the Maison had for them after the after-action report was far more interesting. Polina thought it was a bit curious that the man had acquired his item midway through the auction, in spite of being raided, but she supposed that was a moot point here.

They were to infiltrate a ball, then?

As a former noble of the Oros Empire, she had some limited exposure to them as a child, but under Giselle’s employ, she had helped plan and run more than one. She had also participated in her share of stomping on unruly nobles stepping out of line, so wasn’t this almost business as usual for her? That was, unless the demon broke out in the chaos or something. Surely that wouldn’t happen? Hmm.

Her lips curled up in a modest smile. “I am well equipped when it comes to handling a ball. Let Lord Havershel have a splendid evening.”