VitaVitaAR

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Fanilly & Tyaethe

The heavy sigh that escaped Fanilly’s lips, no matter how involuntary it may have been, could not have gone unnoticed.

While she had a direction now, she was still no closer to finding the shards of Angroron, or even guessing at where they might be. On top of that, it didn’t seem as if it was going to be easy to gain access to the College’s records, let alone secure a meeting with their headmaster. It wasn’t as if she expected it to be, but that didn’t mean the prospect wasn’t a little frustrating at the very least.

Perhaps she was simply feeling somewhat overwhelmed.

The Knight-Captain’s gaze drifted as she passed, and happened to fall upon a blade that she didn’t recognize, resting beside the pallid form of the oldest of the Knights. The inscription on the blade was in Elvish, and she hadn’t seen Dame Tyaethe with two blades before.

It took an awkwardly long time for Tyaethe to react to her presence, the vampire’s eyes flicking open to look in Fanilly's direction before closing again, hands surreptitiously shifting their position to be ready to arrest her swords if they might get disturbed and fall.

"Is there something that requires my assistance, captain? I'm sure that for most purposes your tutor would be of more use."

“Ah, I apologize,” Fanilly replied, upon realizing she had disturbed Dame Tyaethe. She hesitated only a moment before deciding to mention it.

“That sword, I don’t quite recognize it, it definitely hasn’t been on display before, so I was just wondering…”

She trailed off awkwardly.

“Daybreaker? No, you wouldn’t have. It isn’t a sword that ever got put out. I wanted to, back when I brought it home, but I got talked out of it,” Tyaethe replied, a finger tracing the writing down the length of the sword. “It’s such a waste… this whole thing could probably buy you a castle, but all it does is gather dust in my room.”

Daybreaker. One of a handful of weapons forged by the most renowned of elven smiths, the creator of the holy sword Rephairon. No matter what the sword’s true abilities were, the fact it found itself sequestered inside a girl’s bedroom for years on end was absurd. Yet, with its former wielder…

“Daybreaker…”

Finally paused for a moment as she turned the name over in her mind. That wasn’t just any sword. And there was a good reason it wasn’t put out on display.

The elven-forged blade had belonged to the traitor Edwin, who had turned against the Iron Rose Knights and allied with the wicked mage Maglad and his allies. The fact Tyaethe had been there, that she was the one who defeated Edwin…

It was something she hadn’t thought of before.

It took a few moments for Fanilly to clear her throat and speak once again.

“Was… was it difficult? Facing him, at the end, er…”

She trailed off again. Was that even an appropriate question to ask? The moment she spoke, she felt like she regretted it.

“Practically, or emotionally?”

Even knowing Dame Tyaethe’s demeanor, Fanilly hadn’t been prepared for such a swift response. It took her a moment to gather her thoughts, but at the very least it didn’t seem as if she’d offended the oldest knight.

“Emotionally, you fought alongside him, so… It’s something I’ve always found it difficult to wrap my mind around, I guess.”

“He wasn’t just someone I fought alongside, he was my friend. Not my best friend, I was closer to Elionne and Cyrus, but we’d all known each other for years…” Tyaethe started, pulling her arm back from the swords. “Somehow always beat me at cards, even though you would think being a vampire would make it impossible to bluff that consistently.

“I didn’t even make an attempt to fight him, for most of the battle. Sure, I could have just done my best and get through, but I tried to avoid that. Focused on clearing the way so the others could deal with the golem, or get to Maglad. We had Parv with us! All we had to do was kill one more evil wizard and talk him down, go home, and work out how to explain it…

“But then the idiot had to go and fight his brother, Parv got killed, and…” the small girl’s grip on the stuffed rabbit tightened. I was so angry, and even if it would have been better for me to go for Maglad than let Cyrus do it, and I wanted to stop him but more than that I wanted to know why.”

Tyaethe’s eyes shut again, the vampire sighing. “But he didn’t realise anything until I ran him through. And then Cyrus was gone too, and we had funerals to arrange, and… I think Elly said I didn’t move for a week? Or was it two…”

She shrugged, remembering that this was originally a question. “Fighting your friends is hard. If something has gone terribly wrong, maybe you’ll have to do it, but… don’t hang around and wait for someone else to do it. Or just leave it to me, I’ve learned my lesson…”

Fanilly drew a sharp intake of breath when Tyaethe finished speaking. She hadn’t thought about what she was saying well enough, it was obvious the paladin wasn’t in the best spot emotionally and she felt she had only made it worse.

“I’m sorry, Dame Tyaethe,” she apologized, bowing her head as she spoke, “I shouldn’t have pried. I can’t even imagine what it must have been like… I guess… I’ve just been curious about the first knights, I suppose, and I went about trying to learn in the worst way I could.”

It was hard not to show herself some derision at that point, and the awkward laugh did little to mask it.

“Hnnn… it's not like anyone else knows them better, Lilette wasn't as close as I was to most of them, and the Witch might be annoyingly perceptive but she knows better than to visit and get dragged into everything again.”

She shifted position, somehow keeping the swords balanced as she shifted to better face Fanilly, despite her hands being wrapped around the rabbit still. At least her eyes were open, now? “Well? Which one do you want to know about?”

“Ah? I…”

Fanilly hesitated again. She still felt guilty, but at the same time this was an opportunity she’d never managed to find it in herself to seek before. Tyaethe knew all the original knights, she was the best possible source to learn more on them.

The blonde girl cleared her throat.

“I… I’d like to know more about Sir Cyrus, I suppose,” she began, “I suppose it’s just that he always seemed larger than life. So I want to know what he was like.”

“He was… big.” Tyaethe stated, giving the most obvious piece of information as it came to mind and waving with one hand. “I think he was a bit bigger than Gravinir, even, if you don’t count the horns. And the way he dressed, fought… Agrahn in a rage might have been stronger, but it was Cyrus who had the presence.
“Forget all the stuff about battles and fighting, he was just a great friend. Remembered when someone’s birthday was and arranged a party without fail–I think he half just wanted the excuse, though; stepped in to calm down arguments… went along with half the stupid ideas Ed or I would have. We once got that statue of Mayon in the courtyard onto the roof as a joke on Reon and he went along with it despite the absurdity.”

The vampire snorted. “He’d stick me on his shoulder whether I wanted it or not, if he had something in mind. Even if I didn’t want to do anything, Cyrus wouldn’t let me leave myself out. Plus it was pretty hard to find someone strong enough to do some of the things he thought might be fun.”

Her cheeks turned pink, breaking eye contact, “He was also really good with children. Used to take any opportunity to help out, or play with them. Honestly, I think he sometimes forgot I was the older one… maybe he just thought I should be less scary and join in. Or both.”

Fanilly listened quietly as Dame Tyaethe spoke. It was actually sort of surreal, in a way. She’d never previously worked up the courage to ask about the founding knights, and now she was hearing about Sir Cyrus not as a historical figure but as a person. Certainly, she knew of some of these details, like Sir Cyrus’s good-heartedness. But hearing about them here simply gave her much more depth even if only for a few moments.

And admittedly, the thought of him putting Dame Tyaethe on his shoulder was kind of amusing.

“It’s kind of strange, honestly,” she said, finally, “I’ve read plenty of history books. I enjoyed it, but when they talked about the founding Knights it was always as a historical figure. Hearing about Sir Cyrus from you sort of grounds him in reality as a person, rather than someone so distant.”

“Yeah, I guess it would…” Tyaethe said, attention drifting back to the wall in front of her, “I think there's some magic or other to share memories, that would be better than telling anecdotes, but it would be much too complicated for me to attempt.”

Delicate mental manipulation? She'd probably just burn someone's head if she tried.

“Is there anything else you're interested in…? I can probably think of a specific story if I tried.”

There was a spell for everything, it felt like. Was there spells for cooking? Spells for doing the dishes? Fanilly felt certain that Alaree at least would love it if she didn’t have to lift a finger to wash anything by herself. But that was probably an outcome to be avoided.

The Knight-Captain considered Dame Tyaethe’s words for a moment.

“To be honest, er, I always had a hard time finding anything about Sir Cyrus and Sir Florian’s encounter with the White Rabbit Knights. It’s something multiple history books mention but they never go into detail about it. What happened?”

The response was a groan. “That entire thing was ridiculous, I was hoping that it would never have found its way into the books. Neither of them were particularly aware of Hundi customs, and their Ithillane wasn’t great…

“You would think that if they were travelling up in Stalva, I would have been asked to come along, but they didn’t bother. It didn’t matter that the twins were doing their best to explain, and the pair of them completely missed why these two were checking who they were interested in. The sister ended up challenging Cyrus, the brother challenged Florian… and then those two somehow thought it was a much more dangerous challenge than it was, and fought as a team.”

Tyaethe put her head in her hands, “They thought that was the end of it, but the White Rabbit Knights managed to find a good healer, and spent months following them around trying to get the duels that they had agreed to, as well as some measure of compensation for breaking the rules so flagrantly in the first place. Neither of them wanted to kill a pair of teenagers who were mostly just being annoying… so they kept running away until they lead them all the way back here.”

The vampire’s face turned pink again. “I hadn’t been pleased about being left behind, or that they’d made such a mess of finding someone fluent in both languages, like it would have been hard... well, if they hadn’t basically put themselves on the run. So, I left out the part about what the duels were for and just told them the conditions.

“Obviously, Florian and Cyrus won, but they put up a good enough fight that we asked them to join. It’s not like they were going to leave, anyway, since they were trying to get a marriage agreed… in the end, Raya decided that since Florian had knocked her out in their original fight, it was fine to go after him too, and Randon didn’t disagree.

“They never did get married, but they seemed happy enough with the circumstances they were in. Made for a shockingly open relationship, those three.

“And that is why it doesn’t get much more than a mention. The end result was all Flori’s personal business, and the actual sequence of events was stupidity by bad Ithillane.”

Fanilly remained silent as Dame Tyaethe relayed the story, but the moment she realized what direction it was going in her eyes widened. She’d never encountered a hundi on their coming of age journey before, but she had heard enough to guess at what a duel with one entailed.

As the story reached its climax, the Knight-Captain found her cheeks growing more and more red, the heat creeping up to her ears. It had all been a misunderstanding to begin with, but then for it to end up that way…!

“Y-you mean… S-Sir Florian, both of them, they, with…” Fanilly trailed off, softly placing her hands to her cheeks as she averted her eyes slightly.

“N-no wonder none of the sources I f-found ever go into detail…”

“Yes, both of them. And with basically anyone else that was up for it, Flori wasn’t exactly picky. And he was charming, and handsome, and a massive flirt. Though I think changing Raya’s mind was probably an accident at first, they were almost indistinguishable and he was very drunk…” Tyaethe continued, smirking at the captain’s reactions. Ah, she was so much more confident with fighting than even the slightest hint of intimacy, hm? That was unfortunate, she had so many more stories like this.

And not all of them involved Florian, even! Two hundred years of a famous knightly order let you spectate a lot of things.

“A lot of the stories that aren’t written down are like this. We weren’t always the most sensible lot when out in small numbers.”

It was several moments before Fanilly found it in herself to clear her throat and try and speak again. She knew about Sir Florian’s handsome looks and charms, and it was hard to avoid his reputation as a flirt. But hearing about the knight’s relationship like that was so embarrassing!

I, er, I see, er,” she tried to clear her head, “Then, um, s-something happened when Dame Sescille went to Kaerveil, d-didn’t it?”

Surely that couldn’t be embarrassing, right?

“Ah, that was that city over the sea, right? Thaln needed to do something about the growing piracy problem, so Sescille went over as the Roses’ representative. She… got bored waiting for everyone to finish talking it over, and just went looking for any known pirates. It worked, but it definitely strained relations for a while… I think I remember the souvenirs more.” Tyaethe answered, looking thoughtful before she remembered something else and shot the captain another amused smirk.

“Oh, and Sescille kept telling me how surprisingly good with their fingers nem are. More than made up for the lack of size, she said,” Tyaethe looked at her hand. “I think she was trying to tease me. Or maybe it was her idea of flirting rather than being direct.”

Ah, that wasn’t an embarrassing story at all. Fanilly relaxed a little bit. It was actually fairly interesting, Sescille being overseas—

Immediately the Knight-Captain’s entire face colored.

“Wh-wha-th-that’s…. That’s…!”

She couldn’t have meant it like that, right?!

“Ridiculous, right?” Tyaethe agreed, smirk widening, “She should have known her flirting wouldn’t work. Although, I wouldn’t have said no if she kept flaunting her abs some more… girl had some of the best muscles I’ve ever seen, and those abs? Perfect.”

“I-I… I…”

It was simply too much for Fanilly by this point, her hands having returned to her burning cheeks.

“I-I’ll t-talk to you a-again another time!”

With that, she turned and nearly ran.

She couldn’t handle any more embarrassment.

Tyaethe snorted in amusement. Who knew their captain was so easily wound up? Well, she was still young and inexperienced, it probably wasn’t that surprising. At least she’d be able to work through the stories this way, if it would keep being so fun to let Fanilly know exactly how much all those famous knights had actually been people behind the stories and legendary achievements.

Maybe then someone else would start to see Edwin as a person that made a bad choice, rather than some pantomime villain. At least, she had to hope that’s all it was, and not something that she should have seen coming, a failure even before it got to the point of battle…

It wasn’t like she could ask.

Shadow Contract: A Demon-Slaying Action RP

"... Yeah. Yeah I'm weak," the slime-like demon commented with what sounded something like a sigh, still clinging to the back of the trembling little girl, "Gotta resort to measures like this and all, right? But that thing down there's a real monster. I'm a small fry, so letting me go is no big deal, right?"

The slime demon's cowardice was immediately evident, but at least it seemed as if it was fully aware of its own chances in a fight.

Then again, that was how this situation had started in the first place. Still, the bladed tendril it had created drifted away from the little girl's throat. Regardless of its nature, it appeared to intend to stick to its word to at least some extent, though it was still poised to strike.

"It gets out, and all those people out there are in serious trouble. I'm no big deal compared to that, you know? I'm guessing you came to kill that thing anyway. It's under the shopping center right now, trying to find a way out."

@Raineh Daze@Rune_Alchemist@RolePlayerRoxas@Quartz@Emeth@LuckyBlackCat

From Realms Beyond — An Isekai Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

"I do not cause collateral damage."

It was in that same monotone that the girl delivered her response to Sanae. However, there may have been some barely perceptible force in her voice, now.

Perhaps the mage did not like the assertion that she could be so careless. Whatever the case, her expression didn't change when the snakelike magical projectiles twisted around her.

"Nonlethal does not mean ineffective," she commented, flatly. As she did, she raised her staff, momentarily ceasing her attack to instead cast a defensive spell, constructing a multidirectional barrier of complex, interlaced mana in the form of circles similar to those from which her lasers originated.

Sanae's danmaku washed over the barriers.

"Divinity?" she questioned, tilting her head, "Inconclusive. Complex serpent patterns. Is the appearance a-"

Her externalized train of thought was interrupted when a hole was blown through her barriers by the hurtling chunk of sharp white rock from below.

"Ah-"

Blood.

It hadn't been a direct hit. The horned mage girl had twisted her body, but the tip had managed to catch her at her waist, tearing her clothing and cutting into her side.

And yet, her expression didn't change, even as she placed her free hand to her wound.

"... A mistake. I anticipated only magical projectiles," she commented, drifting back as her barriers crumbled, "A projection? No mana was detected. What kind of technique..."

If anything, she seemed far more concerned with understanding what Saria did then her new injury.

"... Further observation is required."

This time, it was at least a dozen circles of light that appeared in the air behind the small, purple haired girl.

With a flick of her staff, they rained down, targetting both Sanae and Saria. Had anyone paid attention, they would perhaps note that the beams curved away from any intact buildings or living villagers.

It was difficult to tell if this was simply how her spell targeted her enemies or if it was because she was consciously avoiding collateral damage, however. What would be evident is that these beams of magical energy seemed denser, as if perhaps she was attempting to test how sturdy Saria's shields were.

@Raineh Daze@PKMNB0Y

---

Lily skipped back as the Umbral Knight moved forward, blade raised. But unfortunately, her attacker had already moved out of range. She could already tell her friends with long-ranging abilities would be the best at trying to stop them. No sooner then she had realized that, however, was the masked figure already moving in again.

"Lily, cover your mouth and nose!" shouted the Umbral Knight. Without thinking about it, Lily slapped her hands over her face.

It wasn't a moment too soon. Moments later, a vile, sickly purple-green mist issued forth from the assassin's mouth. Lily didn't need any assistance to understand what this was.

Poison.

She'd seen plenty of poison in Land's End. For that matter, she's seen plenty that worked just like this: A mist that billowed over an area and began wearing down anyone who stepped into it. It was a spell used by some of the corrupted mages she'd encountered.

It had covered a wide enough area that Lily wasn't sure how to get away quickly. And on top of that, anyone nearby could be in danger---

Ah!

She had a way to deal with this!

Holding her breath, Lily called forth another of her friends.

She had the shape of a tall woman, but her body seemed to be choked by(and possibly composed partly of) twisted and gnarled plant matter.

As she raised her arms, a twisted, swirling wind rose with her, tinted red and cutting like razors, but also drawing the poison upwards and inwards, collecting it and condensing it to keep it from spreading further.

No sooner then the whirlwind had formed then the Witch reappeared, replacing the Umbral Knight and letting forth another hail of dark magical energy orbs at Lily's attacker.

@PKMNB0Y

From Realms Beyond — An Isekai Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

There was something coming---!

White petals flew. There was the sound of metal skittering across her barrier, only just barely having been prevented from plunging into her back.

The Witch faded as Lily frantically tossed herself forward, only Silva's power preventing her from falling flat on her face and instead being propelled over the ground.

Someone had snuck up on her, and tried to hurt her.

Her blue eyes wide as the blade glistened in the fires of the burning village.

And then it was caught.

The Umbral Knight was there. With the blade far too close to deflect with their sword, they had instead used their only other option.

Their hand.

The blade stuck through the Umbral Knight's palm, piercing the gauntlet from below.

They were wordless as they flung their hand to the side, tearing the weapon from the assassin's grasp and swinging their blade forward, forcing them into a retreat.

The sight of the blade buried in the Umbral Knight's palm left Lily trembling, stepping forward and reaching out towards her guardian.

"... I'm fine," they replied, levelly. Smoothly, they raised their other hand, pointing their sword towards the assassin.

No further words were necessary, for the intent was clear.

The assassin would die.

@PKMNB0Y

---

Even with their defenses, it was clear the magi were being suppressed. Especially, it seemed, given that their strongest barrier was suddenly gone.

The purple-haired figure had disappeared.

The white beam of light that was sent hurtling Sanae's way slammed into Saria's barrier, streaming around it and being set screaming into the distant sky.

"..."

The magic circle at the tip of the black-and-gold staff reduced and faded, the wielder lowering her arm.

She was a pale, petite girl, her slim figure clad in a dark robe, her expressionless purple eyes matching the shade of her straight hair. Her blunt bangs hung just above them. Unusually, her pupils appeared to be diamond-shaped as opposed to circular, and she possessed two curling horns.

It wasn't only her eyes that were expressionless. When the smallish girl spoke, her soft voice was entirely devoid of inflection as well.

"Unusual," she commented, "Large-scale magical attack without lethal intent used in a situation where many lives are at risk. An unfamiliar pattern."

She paused for a moment, wordlessly regarding the burning buildings, before refocusing her attentions on Sanae.

"The barrier's origin... there."

With a flick of her wrist, the floating girl manifested a set of four magic circles in an arc, which tilted downwards and ignited immediately, firing a quartet of lasers towards the dragon-like woman below.

"... Is she...? No."

The small girl was moving once more, another eight circles appearing in a ring around her.

"I will not participate in unneeded destruction. But I will perform my duty."

The circles flashed, and another hail of lasers trained on the miko were unleashed.

@Raineh Daze@PKMNB0Y@DracoLunaris

From Realms Beyond — An Isekai Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

They were stronger now, Lily could tell that much. That was why it was important, no matter how much she didn't want to see them die, to keep watching.

Besides, she had to make sure that they villagers would be safe.

The huge warrior swung his massive mace in an arc, practically knocking the body of one of the Raven Heralds apart on impact and crushing through several others, bowling over the rest. Needless to say, no matter how disciplined they were, they were far too hesitant to approach after seeing such a display.

Lily took a deep breath. Maybe the rest would run away, and they'd be able to able to save the rest of the townfolk and help anyone who was injured.

Something splashed across her barrier. After a moment, Lily realized it was a ball of fire.

And then there was another. This time, she was throwing herself through the air again, the abilities granted by Silva allowing her to evade the direct impact even as her heartbeat grew faster.

The hulking figure faded. There was a mage, someone who could use magic, taking aim. Even if she couldn't see them, she knew that was what was going on.

She landed on her feet, crouched, and gulping in air.

It was scary, but Lily couldn't just run away.

The figure that rose behind her now was, in spite of her tattered clothing and greyed skin, a beautiful and somewhat elegant woman in an expansive dress and a wide-brimmed hat, a staff gripped in one hand.

With a single gesture, she released a wave of crimson, pulsating balls of magical energy, sending them hurtling towards the Raven Heralds and beyond.

If she could at least disrupt the mage from a distance...

@PKMNB0Y@DracoLunaris@EchoWolff@Lugubrious@Drifting Pollen@Raineh Daze

The Maids Guide to Demon Hunting

... She'd had to be saved.

She had to be pulled away.

The mere fact infuriated her. She'd reached that bitch, only to be dragged away in order to prevent her from being burned.

So the fire caused decay, did it?

So the fire would corrode those in touched from the inside, would it?

Elizstrazia's core was burning already. The fury was practically filling her hollow form, threatening to spill out as she clenched her clawed hands, threatening to dig her razor nails into her own palms.

How dare she speak to her in that way.

How dare she call her a pipsqueak. A runt. Insult her that way. She'd had to deal with far too much. She'd had to contend with far too much to put up with being belittled by a coward hiding in the form of a human and using her as a hostage. A coward he cloaked themselves in fire to avoid being touched.

And yet...

When the small scale demon raised her head, her eyes blazed.

Her razor teeth showed as her lips parted in a vicious grin, and she laughed.

Because no matter how angry she was, it was hilarious. The fact that her opponent fought this way meant it was the height of comedy.

"So that's how it is?!" she cried, taking a step forward even as the fireballs approached, "You spread your corrosive ability through this fire? I see. I get it just fine. You're right, I guess it would have been a bad idea to fight you up close!"

She raised one clawed hand, the wild look in her eyes only growing in its intensity, an inferno-like blaze to match her opponent's flames.

"Your luck ran out the moment you met me!"

Her spread fingers clenched into a fist.

"Time Crush!"

Normally, Time Crush required direct contact with her target. This was no exception, in fact, she couldn't simply destroy anything at will by bringing it into contact with its own past and future no matter where it was located in relation to herself.

But fire, even these demonic flames, was something formed in the air itself. A reaction, even if one motivated by her opponent's demonic capabilities.

It was the rapid destruction of particles in the air. The air itself.

The very air that Elizstrazia was already in contact with from the very beginning.

The resounding bang sounded similar to a gunshot. It was soon followed by a multitude of others, as each fireball collapsed in on itself and burst. She dragged them together, the milliseconds that were their past and future, and the resulting paradox destroyed them.

"Fire is just a reaction, it's gases and heat and light, even when it's created by magic or some other power," commented Elizstrazia idly, her tail waving from side to side, "Normally I have to touch something directly do do this, but I'm always in contact with the air around me. That means it's trivial for me to do this!"

Another clench of her fist heralded another chorus of gunshot bursts. The fireballs were destroyed once again.

"Nothing's changed, you bitch. I still have a front row seat to your failure!"

@Rune_Alchemist@Pyromania99

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

@Eisenhorn: Accepted.

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

The powers that be...

Of course, Fanilly had no doubt in her mind that the goddesses were with them. So it was a comforting thought, wasn't it? The idea that Reon and Mayon were smiling on them, desiring for their efforts to succeed.

The young Knight-Captain took a deep breath. Stepping away from Sir Fionn and Sir Gerard wasn't just to address the knights more directly, but also to escape the crushing feeling of being between them at that very moment.

Awkward didn't quite cover it.

She cleared her throat.

"In that case, I'll arrange for a meeting with the College's headmaster," she began, her voice more steady, now. "If possible, I'd also like to arrange for access to their library, but regardless I think it's worth looking through our own records as well. If we can find any information about the shards, anything at all, it's worth pursuing."

After the horrific scene at the fort, they couldn't allow the fragments of Angroron to go unaccounted for any longer. Not just because someone was attempting to collect them, but because of the damage they could do.

If another person died because of the Lightless Blade, then it would be too many.

"That doesn't just mean any mentions of them directly," she added. They were plenty aware of the effect that the shards could have on others, now, which meant that they could search for them as well, "Places associated with dark magic and curses. Those too, anything that could have any sign of their presence."

Fanilly didn't know very much about magic, certainly, but something as evil as that would surely leave a mark on its surroundings if it was left there for long enough, if not properly contained.

"Ah, er, as for the blacksmith, Sir Steffen..." she paused for a moment to address the ingvarr. He was so tall, she had to admit sometimes it was still a lot to take in, "I don't think he's ever taken a day off, except for Dwarven holidays."

She had to confess she didn't know him very well, but at the same time she got the impression he wasn't the type of person who took days off if he could help it.

@The Otter@HereComesTheSnow@Conscripts

The Maids Guide to Demon Hunting

After angrily shrugging Lyssa off and nearly kicking the other maid in the face for daring to touch her without her permission, Elizstrazia had descended down the hole.

Tch...

This pissed her off.

If it wasn't for the fact that there was a possession, there wouldn't be any issue. She'd have no problem just slaughtering the woman and being done.

But the possessing demon had already pissed her off way too much. There was no way she was going to let it have its way, and that included letting it use the woman as a hostage.

But Elizstrazia didn't know how to deal with this. To put it simply, subtlety wasn't exactly her strongsuit, and that was something she'd been aggravated about the entire mission.

It was all coming to a head here. What did she even do? How did she even deal with this? The more she thought about it, the more she grew frustrated, her tail angrily swishing from side to side.

At least, until the other demon appeared.

Elizstrazia had plenty of questions. Where had she come from? Why was that even one of Katherine's options? How dare she rely on any other demon other than herself when Elizstrazia was right there and plenty able-bodied?

But all of it was pushed to the side when she saw quite clearly that the idol was no longer in the possessed woman's hands, and the idol had fallen to he side.

The small scale demon's lips parted into a grin.

One foot slammed down, shattering the floor beneath her, and her entire body lurched forward, a cloud of debris scattering in the air behind her.

She had to reach her target as quickly as possible, after all.

She lurched at the possessed woman, throwing her small but powerful frame into tackling her to the ground, straddling her and pinning her arms firmly the floor beneath her as quickly as possible.

Provided she found success, her sharp-toothed grin would spread even wider.

"Oh look! I get a front row seat to watching your expression as you fail!"

@Rune_Alchemist@Pyromania99

Pokemon: Dream

"Ah, er, I wouldn't have her actually bite a car, eh-heheh..."

That'd be no good! It'd cause a serious ruckus for one, and of course the car's owners wouldn't be happy if she just went around having her bite into cars.

"Then again..." she paused for a moment, her thoughts speeding through her mind at a rapid pace, "Maybe if I found a junkyard or something, then..."

Her train of thought was interrupted when she was approached by another girl. Looking up at her when she offered a visit the museum... well, there was no way she could turn that down.

"That sounds great! Hehehe, Tyrunt, we can introduce you to your relatives!"

Practically spinning in place, Sophie happily extended her hand to the Pokemon, who tilted her head somewhat curiously. It was hardly the first time Sophie would go to a museum, but that was because she never passed up the opportunity. Ever since she became healthy enough to go outside regularly, she'd been to them plenty.

"Besides, I need to make sure I don't go off on my own too much," she added, her smiling fading only slightly. It was true, part of reason she was allowed to go in the first place was because her parents were assured that she would always have someone around her who would be able to help if anything happened.

And she hardly blamed them for the sentiment.

@PKMNB0Y@Rune_Alchemist@Thayr