Sacred Gaia: Rune Hunting Part 1 of 5

Job Details:

The portal to Earthland vanished behind the four Wizards of Sacred Gaia leaving them in a land that Mashyuu wasn't familiar with. He took a whiff of the air to see if it smelled any different but things seemed the same. Behind in front of the group was a massive forest that seemed to go on forever. Behind them was a sharp drop into a vast mass of clouds. "O.k. Lets go find these ruins right now. No need to stand at the edge of nothing." Mashyuu said quickly while trying to usher the team forward. Over the past few weeks he had developed a strange fear of being off the ground for to long and falling down, into the sky was not something he was looking forward to.

Once the team had entered the forest Mashyuu looked over towards the beautiful Itori and the siblings, wondering if they would be able to get along during the job. Mashyuu and the Siblings had bonded a little more since their last job and Itori and Mashyuu had a way to speak so long as she was within three meters of him but the Siblings and Itori hadn't really had a chance to bond themselves as far as Mashyuu knew. Off in the distance a loud revving echoed through the forest as a group of motor cycles shot around trees and bikers came rushing towards the Wizards. "Should have brought Rocky." Mashyuu joked under his breath while preparing for a fight.

WC: 249

redheadedstepchild carried out 2 launched of one Monster Dice :

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job:

Gold Rush Lineage --> +100% Jewel added to the reward

Itori was feeling a very strange form of homesickness as she stepped through the portal and looked around at the world in which her latest job would take place. She wasn't longing for the guild hall, not for that of Tartarus. In fact, her homesickness was not related to Earthland at all. It was just that when shown a portal leading to another world she was reminded of the true origin of herself and her sisters. A home which she hadn't seen for so long that these days she sometimes had to sit down and think very deeply before she could make out all the details of that distant past. She had been quite young back then, which meant that he memory hadn't been as trained as it was these days. She would have to make sure that she and her sisters managed to return to that place at some point, if only to get rid of that which had chased them away in the first place.

However that was something for another time entirely. She might feel homesickness because she was reminded of the possibility of travelling to other worlds, but she would have to shake that off and deal with the present. The reason they came to this place was...actually, Itori wasn't completely sure. The only thing that she knew of was that Mashyuu had asked her to come, because apparently there was something to be found in this place which could grant several things. Unfortunately none of those things really spoke to Itori. She didn't really feel compelled by the promise of power, and being famous wasn't on her mind in the slightest. As for glory, that was a concept she scoffed at, made for heroic people with heroic ideals. While Itori might always act nice and polite she is a cunning and calculating person, and for her glory was not something that should be sought out. Glory might include popularity and rewards, but could just as easily turn you into a target for people who either wanted bigger glory or who simply didn't like seeing you stand in the spotlight. It's not like there aren't plenty of reasons to be unhappy about seeing somebody else doing well. Most humans tended towards envy and jealousy.

So for Itori herself there wasn't really that much reason to be here. As she looked around at this new place, a strange world which appeared to be floating above the clouds, she wondered why she was here. Did she care that much about Mashyuu that she would come here just because he asked her? Maybe it wasn't because she had a real reason to come here, but because she didn't have a reason not to. While the entire thing sounded suspicious to her it didn't appear to be that dangerous, especially since the message said that being too strong was more likely to be a problem than being too weak. Granted that could be part of a trick to only have weaklings enter a death-trap, but there was nothing for it now. She was here, and if that message had been honest she shouldn't have to worry too much. Besides, seeing another world where everything was different could prove beneficial on its own. An illusionist should always welcome the opportunity to get more inspiration for illusions to create in the future.

It was also a good thing that Itori had somewhat gotten used to being high above the ground thanks to the Sabertooth guild hall, since otherwise she might have become nervous with that abyss behind them. However she still followed Mashyuu's example and stepped away from it, moving inwards towards the forest that occupied most of the island so far as she could see. Better not to tart fate, as Kaede managed to immediately prove her right in by being tackled off of the island and into the open air beyond. Itori turned around only to see Miyuki jumping after her brother and the assailant. The fox girl hesitated, not sure what to do now. She should be helping the siblings, but honestly she couldn't think of any way to do that. If they were already falling off the island they were outside her reach, since she didn't possess the ability of flight or had rope with her long enough to actually be of use. And besides of that it looked like there were more enemies to worry about than the one that just went over the edge together with the siblings. She wondered why that man apparently had decided to jump into certain death. Were these assailants fanatics?

Either way, Itori had to get rid of the ones that were still on the island, which meant she had to fight. And she hated violence. It was barbaric and beneath her as an illusionist who was practised in her craft. As such she would have to find a way to get rid of them before they actually forced her to draw her sword. Luckily there was a garbage disposal located right behind her and Mashyuu. She just had to put the garbage in (Itori's mind was a lot less polite than her body). Turning around she ran back to the edge, attracting the attention of three of the thugs that were moving towards her and Mashyuu. This would be risky, but it was the best method she could think of. She kept running until she was at the edge, at which point she acted as if she was panicking, quickly moving her head from the left to the right in an attempt to find a way out. She was still in her human form at this point, so the thugs had no reason to assume that she was anything special. As it was they charged straight at her, apparently planning to just dogpile her and then restrain her. Perfect.

When the men began to lunge at her Itori suddenly created a simple illusion at high speed: she and the thugs were now completely engulfed by thick white smoke. Jumping over the thugs, who were now completely confused and uncertain as they realized they were standing at the edge of an endless abyss, with the cloud hiding everything from their eyes, Itori turned into her Kumiho form, once she landed behind the thugs spinning on one foot while stretching out her tail, using the large fluffy appendage to push all three the thugs over that edge. Kaede and Miyuki would get to see those three fall down, screaming as they plummeted to certain death. As for Itori herself, she sat down at the edge of the cliff, not bothering to return to her human form, as she tried to find a way to help the siblings. Mashyuu was strong, he could take care of the remaining thugs on his own as she figured out a way to get Kaede and Miyuki up here.

Before Mashyuu knew it, not one but both the siblings were over the edge of the cliff with a biker minus the bike going with them. "Ehhh. Shit...." Mashyuu started to go after the Siblings until he caught from the corner of his eyes Itori moving for the edge of the floating Island. He wanted to shout to her to stop but she seemed like she knew what she was doing. He could hear six or seven men rushing him. The brown haired Wizard twisted his head to see the men rushing him. Mashyuu extended a palm and from the ground dirt shot up around him and started to swirl in the air some six feet high. He didn't wait to see if the men followed him but instead shouted out to Itori. "Itori, stay by the portal I'll be back!" With that said, Mashyuu took a single step forward and started to free fall from the island, just barely keeping a hand running along the floating isle.

Wind picked up around Mashyuu for a long moment until he saw a figure dangling from something near the very bottom of the island. Mashyuu bent his elbow and a wall erupted under him. He fell with bent knees and rolled backwards hard. He nearly rolled off the edge of wall and grasped it hard. "Hang on guys! I'm Coming down!" Carefully Mashyuu pulled himself up and the stone and dirt wall slipped down next to the Siblings. "All aboard" Mashyuu reached down for Kaede, then Miyuki. Once they were all safely on the wall a series of bodies started to fall around them to the endless sky. Slowly the wall started to climb up the Isle as if swimming so the Wizards could meet up with Itori again.

WC: 296

Itori was still sitting at the edge of the island, trying to figure out how to get the siblings out of the mess they had almost literally fallen into. Did she have any magic abilities which allowed her to save them? She couldn't float or make others float, she couldn't fly either, she couldn't create anything with which she could pull them up, and she couldn't alter the shape of the island either, even in small amounts. So far as she could see her magic wouldn't be of any use of her here, unless miraculously the siblings could climb up here if she gave the proper motivation with her illusions, something which she doubted.

Did she have any other tricks which could be of use? The fox girl closed her eyes and frowned as she went through her options, her arms folded as her frown slowly deepened. No...no... No, it did not seem like she could actually do anything here. The only thing she could think of was try to find something like a very long rope or a vine and dangling over the edge, but she would have to find one first and that would take time. Thanks to her ability to detect souls she could tell that Kaede and Miyuki were dangling there, and she had no idea how long they could hold on. And there was no guarantee that there would be any kind of rope or vine lying around of that length, tough enough to hold their weight for so long as Itori pulled them up.

While she was still thinking the Kumiho blinked as suddenly Mashyuu also went over the edge, although from the way he was acting he apparently had a plan. The command to stay at the portal confused Itori, since from what she could see he just left her alone with the thugs that remained. Staying in one place would just make it easier for them to attack her. She could stay in the area, but sticking to the portal was just a silly idea. Speaking of which those six thugs seemed to be wandering through the dust cloud that Mashyuu had thrown up for now. Itori looked at them with a somewhat bored expression. She didn't know what those thugs had been planning, but in all honesty they just looked barbaric and simple-minded to her. Wait for people to go through that portal and attack them. It was not a bad plan, but she was ashamed to be on the receiving end of this plan because their execution was terrible. Combine that with her dislike of violence in the first place and she didn't feel like playing with these thugs at all.

Raising one hand Itori made a rather uninspired waving motion with it, her expression one of disinterest as she began to warp reality inside the dust cloud Mashyuu had created to delay the thugs. She couldn't actually change reality, but what she could do is make the reality that the thugs experienced different from that which everybody else had to deal with. First of all she had to make sure that for them the dust cloud would only become rougher and wilder instead of slowly dying. Next she added the sound of loud rushing winds coming from all sides so they wouldn't be able to coordinate. Combined with their hindered vision they should not be able to tell who and what was where. It was a bit unfortunate that she wasn't in the position to actually create a bubble reality for them, but this would have to do. They could stumble around all they wanted, but with no vision and no sound getting through they could quite easily find themselves moving in circles as long as was necessary for Itori.

Fortunately it actually didn't take that long before her comrades returned from their trip down the side of the island, at which point the most silent one, Kaede, made Itori's eyebrows rise as she dispelled the illusion. She hadn't really pegged him as the type to actually snap and go on a murderous rampage. On the other hand, as long as she didn't have to get her hands dirty she wasn't going to complain. The fox girl let out a silent 'tsk' of annoyance when she realized that the last two were going to escape Kaede's wrath if she didn't do something. Looks like she would have to get her hands dirty after all, unless one of the other two had some way to quickly catch the two fleeing thugs and get rid of them. Suspecting that they didn't, and not wanting to risk the problems that would arise if that bet was wrong, Itori suddenly turned ghostly as she surged forwards after the last two survivors. Once she had caught up to them (which didn't take long) two sounds could be heard in immediate sequence: a sword was drawn and a sword was sheathed. Along with this there was a thin silver line in the air, which formed a curve. Itori was standing in between the two fleeing thugs, standing straight with one hand on the hilt of her sheathed sword. The two thugs were still running, but suddenly both collapsed as blood poured from their necks, proof of Itori's ability to handle her sword as she had cut both their throats in one quick slice.

Walking back towards the other Itori halted once she saw the siblings, tilting her head to the side before motioning for Mashyuu to come to her. It looked like those two had some emotional matters to resolve before they could partake in the rest of the job. For now she wanted Mashyuu to inspect the two men she had just disposed of, and see if he could learn anything about them. There were technically four other bodies he could take a look at, but Kaede hadn't exactly been concerned about keeping their bodies clean when he snapped. At least, that was Itori's guess as she saw the kind of wounds the man had inflicted. He didn't appear to have any magic skill worth speaking of, but his physical prowess was impressive.

Mashyuu stepped off the rock wall with the siblings and watched as Kaede took a rusty blade from his sister and stepped into the cloud of dirt. His brow raised until he heard the cries of pain coming from the fog cloud. He could feel his pant leg being tugged on and the Earth Wizard twisted and offered Miyuki a friendly smile. "...Hey. It's gonna be fine." He offered. Mashyuu watched as the scene unfolded. Before he could do anything Kiyuki was asking for a moment to the siblings and telling Mashyuu his life would end if he told anyone about her moment of weakness. "I don't know what you're talking about Miyuki." He said while walking back to the woods to meet up with Itori.

"I'm glad you're safe Itori. So what's up?" He asked the moment he made it up to the woman. He wanted to ask if she was a fox woman or something else. He honestly wasn't sure but he thought it would be rude to ask out in the open. Mashyuu walked with Itori to the two dead bodies and tilted his head. "...Lets see." He sniffed the bodies, something was off about them. "They are carrying poisoned weapons." Mashyuu determined while standing back up. "If more come, keep your guard up."

WC: 213

redheadedstepchild carried out 2 launched of one Monster Dice :

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Itori had little interest for the little moment Miyuki and Kaede were having. She would have loved to be able to talk to her sisters about problems they were having, but she hadn't been able to find them for so long, and even now that she knew where they were she still couldn't exactly just talk to them. Seeing another set of siblings do what she herself wanted to be able to do without issues wasn't something which interested the fox girl, so as soon as Mashyuu joined her she turned around and pointed towards the two she had killed, who were lying there on the ground ready for inspection by the Earth Dragon Slayer. Their throats had been cut open, causing blood to spill out, but the cut had been clean for both, and besides of them they had been left unblemished. Perfect for seeing what kind of people had attacked them and why.

As Mashyuu knelt to inspect the bodies Itori waited, looking around as her ears twitched. She had seen how Mashyuu had looked at them and her tail. This was the first time that she was blatantly showing them like this in front of the three others. Last time that they had been on a job together she had kept up her disguise the entire time, only showing her Kumiho nature once she was alone and didn't have to worry about prying eyes. She knew that eventually he would ask her about it, but it looked like he would wait until they were no longer being attacked by these thugs out of nowhere. She appreciated that, because she actually wasn't that willing to make much of a big deal about it. They should be able to get used to her nature as a Kumiho fairly quickly, at least if she didn't go and do something like eating a man's liver. Which she didn't feel inclined to do, because in sharp contrast to what some people might believe, human liver wasn't that tasty.

As for their attackers, Itori honestly couldn't say what was the deal with them. She didn't recognize any of them, their scent wasn't familiar in the slightest, and she had never been in this place before. If these people had a vendetta it was with either Mashyuu or those siblings, but Mashyuu acted like he didn't know anything about this place either. The fox girl would have to see what Kaede and Miyuki thought about this, but those two were still busy with their own business. Itori unsheathed her sword to inspect it, noticing that even though she had tried to cut as cleanly and quickly as possible there was still some blood on it. She frowned as she wiped off the blood, once again inspecting the edge before returning her sword to its sheath. If she couldn't even cut down two scared thugs without letting their blood stain her blade she still had a lot of training to do. If a cut was fast and clean it should leave the sword as if untouched.

Mashyuu finished his inspection, remarking that the weapons used by the thugs had been poisoned. Itori nodded, her own nose also having picked up on a rather abnormal scent coming from those weapons. They didn't smell like metal. The Earth Dragon Slayer didn't have a lot else to say, which worried Itori. Nondescript thugs either meant that they were completely independent and simply foolish, or their leader was smart enough not to simply let them carry around clues regarding their identity. Itori looked around as she heard shouting from where Kaede and Miyuki where. Focusing she could hear the siblings talk, and since they didn't sound very alarmed she decided to leave them be. Kaede had proven himself quite the threat, and she could sense any strong soul over there. They should be fine as they finished up their little talk, even if some poor fool thought to interrupt them.

However she and Mashyuu would have to deal with some actual trouble as Itori heard the sound of wheels in the distance. And motors. More importantly, the sounds were getting closer fast. Tapping out a warning to Mashyuu through the ground Itori created nine small fox-fires, sending them into the distance to dance in between the trees. Those should make the incoming adversaries wary. After all, pale blue flames floating about in the middle of a forest were quite creepy, and unnatural to booth. They indicated the presence of ghosts and spirits, who would not appreciate it when the living rampaged through their woods loudly and recklessly. As for Mashyuu and herself, Itori created an illusion where they would be seen as yet another pair of trees. Mashyuu would most likely want to go on the offensive soon, but for now they could allow the bikers to be confused by the fox-fires.

Closing her eyes Itori focused on the souls that were approaching. None of them were very strong, the strongest being on the same level as the people they had just taken care of. However there were quite a few of them, over a dozen. She herself wasn't that good at taking down lots of people at the same time, and while Mashyuu was a strong warrior it might be better if he wasn't outnumbered so heavily. It was time to get Miyuki and Kaede. They might not like it if their little talk was interrupted (again), but Itori wasn't planning to be chased around by some humans just because they found their alone time more important than helping their guild mates.

'Mashyuu, there are over a dozen people coming this way. We will have to get Kaede and Miyuki. I will distract them for a short while.'

She hoped that Mashyuu was paying enough attention to the tremors of the ground that she didn't have to tell him that twice. She was already preparing her next set of illusions in case the thugs that were approaching weren't as cowed by the ghostly pale flames as she wanted them to be. In a forest there were quite a lot of ways to scare people using subtle illusions.

Mashyuu was about to say something to Itori about the ears, tell her how much he liked them and the tail but his ears started to wiggle at the sound of motor bikes revving and roaring towards the pair. The Earth Slayer twisted on his heels to face the sound when a series of blue fox fire moved out into the woods. The brown haired man liked having an illusionist at his side, even if she wasn't much of a fighter in general, not everything was solved with a strong fist. Sadly in the world of Wizards, things came to the fist more often than not.

He was trying to focus on where the sound was coming from and when the bikes would get into combat range when he felt something tapping the ground near him. Mashyuu twisted his hips to look at Itori. "Go get the siblings. I'll hold them here until you get back. You have the best chance of getting to them without being seen." Mashyuu reasoned. Already the sound of bikes were getting louder and closer. Mashyuu waved Itori towards the siblings and moved to face the sounds that seemed to pause. His partners fire seemed to have given them a reason to not come closer, at least for a moment.

After Itori was gone Mashyuu saw a bike rush for the Wizard. He ducked down just as a flame launched from the bikers hand, sailing over Mashyuu's head and just barely missing his hair. The Earth Wizard took a series of steps backwards while three more men shot out of the woods on bikes. Mashyuu lifted his foot as all four men tried to run him down. "Earth Dragons Tremor Stomp!" He shouted and slammed his foot down forward. The ground rippled around him and stones shot up in a mid ranged radius. The bikes hit the stones and stopped in their tracks, sending the bikers sailing off the bikes and into trees behind Mashyuu, knocking them out cold. "Who's next?" He asked while another biker came around the corner. Mashyuu launched himself towards the bike and jumped up, placing his foot on the bars of the bike and lashing out with his claws, cutting and knocking the man off the bike. Swiftly Mashyuu flipped forward and landed on the ground in a crouch as the bike smashed into a tree near by.

WC: 393

Itori blinked as suddenly Mashyuu stepped up, and rather than following her suggestion and going back to alert Miyuki and Kaede told her that he would hold the new enemies off so she could go and get them. The Kumiho had already been preparing some illusions to use here, so she had to watch that magic fade away as she stared at the Earth Dragon Slayer's back. He thought that she was the better choice because she had an easier time getting to them? But she was also the better choice for keeping the enemies at bay. Sure, Mashyuu was the better fighter, but with numbers like these it was better to distract without actually fighting. With her illusions, especially in a forest like this, she could cause a lot of havoc amongst the enemy numbers without ever exposing herself. Mashyuu on the other hand would have to make himself a target so they would focus on him, allowing Itori to get away. Him being the one to stay behind and hold them off was only the right choice if he thought that he could deal with them all by himself and only needed to others to help finish them off, or if he really could only consider straightforward fighting as the answer. Neither possibility satisfied Itori.

However Mashyuu was still the one in charge here so far as the Kumiho could make out, so she had little choice but to obey him. That and arguing with him would take time, and the faster they moved the better. So she just glared at his back for a moment before disappearing, dashing back towards where the brother and sister had been having their little moment together. Itori just hoped that they had finished, because knowing Miyuki at least she wouldn't be happy about being interrupted. Then again, Itori wasn't too impressed by Miyuki so far. She was stubborn and did everything her own way, but from what the Kumiho had seen so far she had no reason to fear the girl with the blades. She didn't even have enough magic power to do anything but swing those awful blades at her. Those things were in horrible condition at all times. Even if Miyuki could swing them fast and hard enough to still cut things, Itori wasn't going to be afraid of somebody without any tricks and whose weapons were in such poor condition. For an illusionist like her there wasn't a lot to respect about Miyuki.

Kaede on the other hand had become a bit more interesting just now. This was the first time that the fox girl saw him snap, and she had to admit that the amount of brute he possessed was something she would have to acknowledge. That and he had been glowing when he went wild, although it didn't look like he had been doing it on purpose. Still, there was some magic there, and maybe he could learn to use or control it. Although even he was still not going to worry Itori. His speed and strength was terrifying, but he wasn't faster than Itori, and as long as she was fast and tricky enough that strength wouldn't reach her. But that wasn't the important thing. What was more important was figuring out how he had gotten so strong. For a human to become that strong they needed to do a lot of training, a lot more than a normal human could actually endure, so she was curious what Kaede had been through to allow him to wield that level of strength. With that kind of physical prowess he could do a lot more than just carry a shield around or swing those jagged swords.

It didn't take very long for Itori to reach the siblings. Mashyuu had at least been correct when he said that she was better for getting to them quickly without being spotted. That wasn't what she had disagreed with. Her problem was that she was the better choice for keeping the enemy busy without actually engaging them, which was naturally preferable over having somebody hold them off with brute force. However the Earth Dragon Slayer apparently didn't agree, and Itori hadn't wanted to argue. But now she had to find a way to actually talk to the two of them. Mashyuu she could talk to because she knew the most common form of Morse code, and he could feel and translate the tremors she made when she tapped against the ground. But Itori couldn't speak, and the siblings didn't have that tremor sense. It looked like Itori would have to use her illusions here.

The siblings were already moving when Itori found them, which was good. It meant that she wasn't interrupting their time together, so she wouldn't have to deal with their possibly angry reactions they might otherwise have had. Once she was in view Itori held both her hands up to get them to stop moving, then pointed at the ground. On the ground a map was quickly being formed as Itori used her magic to create her latest illusion. It was a simple map, since she had no time to waste on petty details. Which she wasn't exactly happy about, but people who were pressed for time couldn't be picky about the tools they had to use.

The map depicted to forest as so far explored and seen by Itori. The positions of all the trees was completely accurate, as the illusionist at least was good enough at her craft that she could perfectly recall her surroundings and how to recreate them with illusions. Itori, Miyuki and Kaede were also visible on the map, Itori being depicted as a fox, Miyuki as two blades, and Kaede as a tower shield. A bit further on the map Mashyuu was shown as a dragon's head of a brown colour, a deep earthy brown. Further into the forest there were skulls, about a dozen of them, moving towards Mashyuu and in extension towards Kaede, Miyuki and Itori. The fox girl pointed at the illusionary map, then at where she had left Mashyuu behind, then at the siblings before once again pointing towards Mashyuu. The message should be clear: go and help Masyuu deal with the enemies.

Mashyuu hadn't known that he had made Itori angry or upset with his orders. He also didn't think he was a leader. His thought process was more or less based on the fact that he wanted to keep her safe incase her magic had failed her. He had never seen her fight and was honestly a little afraid that she would get overwhelmed if Mashyuu and the others didn't return in time.

Still more wizards came at Mashyuu and tried to attack the Earth Slayer. Mashyuu found himself surrounded by enough Wizards that the man would have been worried if he were still fresh to the guild. The Earth Slayer smirked at the men and called up a staff of stone from the ground and into his hands. Mashyuu started lashing out around him rapidly, keeping the other Wizards at bay and from hitting Mashyuu. With any luck the other Wizards would have shown up to drive the other Wizards away. Until then the Earth Slayer wasn't planning on letting these thugs beat Mashyuu down. One went to strike him and Mashyuu drove his staff into the wizards eye, knocking him over and out.

WC: 192

Itori waited silently as Miyuki and Kaede came to her, having the map ready for them to look at. She didn't think it was really necessary to make it any more detailed than it already was, as she mostly created it to give an idea of what kind of mess Mashyuu was I'm currently, and that they should help. However then Miyuki stated that they should take some time to strategize further, while Itori's left ear twitched at being called sugar queen. She honestly wasn't sure if that was supposed to be endearing or demeaning, but would not act offended until she knew which one it was. When Miyuki requested that she changed the pieces on the map Itori first cocked her head, then nodded and pointed at the map, which now had the requested changes incorporated. Honestly Itori preferred shogi over chess, but she wasn't sure if the siblings knew of that game. Although if they were going to actually create a plan they might benefit from more information, so Itori made the pieces actually move, looking in the direction of Mashyuu as she felt that the thugs were surrounding him. He might be tough, but she still hoped he two others would hurry up.

Watching the siblings strategize was at the same time both intriguing and rather dull, a real achievements to invoke both feelings at the same time in the fox girl. Even more so because both feelings were created for the same reason, namely that apparently these siblings were so accustomed to each other that when they were both planning neither of them ever finished their sentences, the other already having realized what the first was goin to say before they spoke more than four words. The fact that they were so god at anticipating each other was in itself intriguing, but after you got over the initial burst of curiosity just standing there and watching without even knowing what they were thinking lost some of its novelty. However Itori was a patient woman, so she just waited for them to finish their brainstorming so she could gear the actual plan.

As she waited Itori looked at the siblings, thinking back at her own sisters. She had travelled for thousand of years looking for them, and was connected to them so tightly that just like Miyuki and Kaede she didn't really need to hear their voice to know what was going on in their minds. Their bonds throughout those many years had become so tight that they shared more than their blood: even their souls seemed to resonate when they were close to each other. Yet still they weren't together as much as Miyuki and Kaede. Itori had yet to ever see one without the other being nearby. It made her both sad and filled with envy to know that these two humans got to enjoy the presence of their siblings more than she herself. It was a good thing that Itori was trained in not sh9wing her actual emotions, otherwise the two might have seen that sadness and envy on her face. As it was the fox girl just stood there silently, watching without showing any real emotion.

Eventually it looked like the two siblings had a plan, Itori removing the illusionary map as it had no further use here. The siblings had finished their planning, and Itori already knew all the contents of the map and could actually update them on the fly even without the map. The fox girl watched the siblings, still without emotion, as the plan was explained to her. She didn't interject or reply as the two spoke, although honestly it was just Miyuki speaking with Kaede sometimes adding something. At the end Miyuki was already moving, Itori wondering whether she should express her concerns about the plan. However the girl was already gone before Itori finished deciding, leaving the fox girl just staring towards Miyuki as she moved deeper into the forest. It wasn't really a bad plan, but from the Kumiho's point of view there were two small problems with it which could make things a bit difficult. The first one was that apparently Miyuki wanted Itori to fight the thugs. The fox girl probably should have made it clear that she wasn't a fighter and in fact has a real hatred for fighting. The other issue she could see was that there was no way of finding that king Miyuki had spoken of. It was true that the thugs must be directed by somebody, but that person was nowhere in the vicinity at the moment, so how Miyuki wanted to deal with that...

Itori just sighed silently and turned to Kaede, motioning with one hand for him to lead the way. He had already shown himself very strong on a physical level for a human, so he should be able to do that part of the plan where they would help Mashyuu deal with those thugs. Itori would follow him, but she wasn't going to fight if she had any say in it, and as a matter of fact she did. She would continue to use illusions to confuse and deceive the enemy, and if either of the siblings complained about that she'd just shrug and ignore them. So far neither Kaede nor Miyuki had really given Itori a reason to listen to what they had to say. Miyuki was just too stubborn and focused on doing her own thing, at the same time refusing to acknowledge others. As for Kaede, he was better than his sister, but the fact that he just went along with his sister instead of acting as her voice of reason wasn't earning him any points in Itori's book. If either Izayoi or Iniki did something stupid or brash or silly Itori was always going to be the one to inform them of that fact and try to get them to stop. She expected the same thing from the more sensible half of the siblings, which up until now had been something a disappointment.

As she waited for Kaede to take the lead Itori tried to think of the illusions that she should use here. Kaede and Mashyuu didn't have the ability to see through her illusions, so she would have to be careful so she didn't accidentally trick those two as well. Minor things should do, placed with expert precision and planning. Itori might not be using a chessboard to plan, but the fox girl's mind wasn't one that would be outdone by others' if it came down to shrewdness and cunning. After all, humans did acknowledge that the most cunning creatures were the foxes.

Man where are the others? Mashyuu thought while glancing over his shoulders as his staff continued to whip about. There weren't many Wizards left but the ones that remained were the ones that could poison with little effort. While the Earth Wizard knew he could dodge anything that the men could throw at him, he wasn't sure if he could take them all down at the same time. The brown haired Slayer Lifted his staff high in the air and swang it in a low sweep, dropping all five of the men to their backs. The needles they had in hand clattered to the grassy ground while they rolled to their knees and stood up. Mashyuu had to give it to em, they were stronger than they looked but not so much that he was actually worried. Mashyuu took an almost skip like jump backwards while pointing his left finger to the ground. A rock floated to his finger and the Wizard aimed it at one man's back. "Rock Bullet!" He called out before the small stone shot out and hit one thug in the center of his back, knocking the man out from the shear pain.

WC: 196

Itori just looked at Kaede as she waited for him to take the lead, so she could follow him and let him do all the fighting. It might sound selfish to let him do all the work, but she had never signed up to fight and just because Miyuki didn't know that didn't mean she suddenly had to change her own opinion. However first he made a comment which left the fox girl slightly annoyed, namely that Miyuki would stop using a nickname if she just told the girl her real name. From Kaede's point of view that might make sense, but that was just another indication that he wasn't being as attentive as he should be, given the fact that he had to be the more sensible half of the twins. Itori didn't talk. This should have been clear at this point. The fact that the siblings didn't realize this was just a clear sign that they didn't pay enough attention to their allies. And then at the same time wanted to treat the situation like chess, dividing their allies into pieces. The fox girl found it almost laughable. You could only play chess if you knew what each piece did and what their strengths and weaknesses were. Yet the siblings would try to play chess without even bothering to understand what pieces they actually had in their possession.

Well, it wasn't part of Itori's duty or position to alert them of that simple mistake. They should be able to figure that out on their own, and the Kumiho wasn't going to make things easier for them. Maybe she might have just told them some other time, with different people, but she didn't really get the feeling that telling Miyuki that she was doing something wrong would work. The last time that they had worked together to free those slaves the girl had just walked away from the group because she didn't care about the fact that Mashyuu was their superior and in charge of the operation. People like that weren't inclined to take kindly to critique. Well, the girl would either learn or she'd suffer. Not Itori's problem, and it might even become amusing, depending on how deep a whole Miyuki managed to dig for herself if she walked the path where she didn't learn.

Keeping her face carefully neutral Itori followed Kaede, running swiftly and silently while keeping close to the ground so she wouldn't be seen. Her running had the somewhat strange characteristic that rather than moving in a completely straight line she appeared to be moving from side to side slightly, which was emphasized by how her tail swayed smoothly behind her, a white streak trailing behind the fox girl as she flowed across the terrain with ease. And flow seemed to be the best description indeed: there were no pauses in her movements, her method for traversing the terrain was completely consistent and smooth. Even if she encountered obstacles she would bypass them without ever appearing to slow down or falter. Itori had a lot of practice moving through a wide variety of terrains for extended periods of time. She had spent years and years travelling, and if you did something like that for long enough you tended to pick up on certain tricks. Like how to move fast without wasting any energy, how to deal with obstacles without slowing down, and how to do this without drawing too much attention to yourself. Since Itori was also just naturally fast she managed to keep up with Kaede, watching him as he arrived at the scene of combat first and immediately drew a lot of attention to himself. Good. That meant that she could safely hide without the enemy spotting her. Hiding was always a lot more effective when there was something to draw the attention of anybody who might otherwise be looking for you.

Coming to a direct halt behind a bush Itori looked at the situation. Mashyuu was surrounded but he had already dealt with the weaker enemies and was now busy keeping the others at bay. Now that Kaede had joined the fight they could most likely finish the remaining adversaries off without much issue. Honestly they didn't need her at all, which suited her just fine. The Kumiho would just go and focus on another part of the job, or wait here for them to finish their fighting so she could join them afterwards and listen to what their next plan was. Considering both options for a while Itori decided that she'd stick with the two males for now. She could probably do the same thing that Miyuki was planning if she really wanted to, but she'd encounter the same problem that she had thought of when the girl was talking of her strategy: she honestly didn't have the faintest clue where they could find the leaders of these thugs. She was curious how Miyuki would deal with that problem, but she wasn't really in the mood to deal with it herself. So instead of that she just crouched there watching Mashyuu and Kaede fight, in the meantime also going so far as to try and gather and conserve as much energy as she could. She hadn't really done anything exhaustive yet, but it never hurt to be in as good a condition as possible. Don't move unless necessary, breathe slowly and steadily, concentrate on keeping your magic flowing smoothly throughout your body. Remember the training exercises performed while practising for illusions and spirit fox magic. The most powerful creatures weren't those with the most raw power to throw around, but the ones who could use what they had to its fullest potential. Control, creativity, caution. Those three things were the fundamental parts of becoming a successful and dangerous illusionist.

The Kumiho would stay hidden like that, focusing on her own cultivation and conserving her energy, until Mashyuu and Kaede finished off the current wave of thugs. This shouldn't take too longer, since both Mashyuu and Kaede were strong and there weren't that many thugs left.

Three men remained standing as the Shield master Kaede made his entrance and managed to take a bit of heat off Mashyuu in a rather impressive display of movements. The Earth using Wizard couldn't help but smile with the thought that Itori had been rather swift in her quest to get help. Mashyuu wasn't honestly sure he could have done the same with his rather tense relationship with Miyuki. Mashyuu swiftly ducked and rolled around to line himself up with two of the thugs while the third made his way towards Kaede.

Mashyuu's right arm crackled with electrical power as he pulled it back mid roll. He landed on his feet and sprang up while extending his arm towards the two men. A blast of golden electricity lanced from Mashyuu's palm and ripped through both men, shocking them hard. While the two men convulsed from the shock Mashyuu raced forward, not as gracefully as Itori or with the acrobatic flare that Kaede had shown but the Earth Slayer manage to get to where he needed to be.... His Right arm dug into the neck of one man, causing him to flip over Mashyuu's arm while the Earth Slayer lifted his left leg and slammed it into the other thugs chest just before the man recovered. With the air driven from the man's body Mashyuu smelled the air and looked over in Itori's general direction. "Thank you." He mouthed with a smile on his face.

WC: 243

Now that the fight was over (it hadn't lasted very long at all after Kaede had joined. Together Mashyuu and Kaede were quite the physical front, as the both of them were physically strong and knew how to use that strength well, even if Kaede normally used a shield instead of just using that raw strength to knock people unconscious) Itori stepped forth, joining the two males as she looked at the thugs that surrounded them. They all looked properly knocked out and made unable to fight. Good. She had not been forced to dirty her clothes fighting after all. Although being called the nameless one by Kaede annoyed her slightly. Well, she was the one who had never told him her own name, so she guessed it was also somewhat her own fault, although the sun would freeze before she would open her mouth and speak just to tell somebody her name. Her voice was too dangerous for such frivolities.

Hearing Kaede argue that Miyuki should be fine had Itori shrug. The other female looked like she did indeed know what she was doing, although in fact she acted so confident that the fox girl had the feeling that at some point she'd get herself into a rather awkward position with that confidence of hers. Well, with some luck (for Miyuki) her brother Kaede would always be there to keep an eye out and help her avoid the actual mistakes which could cost her more than some of her pride. Not that the Kumiho cared too much, but since right now they were allies it was better if that kind of thing didn't happen. Well, besides that it might teach Miyuki just a bit of humility.

Now, they had to figure out what to do next. The thugs were all down, but now they had to figure out where these thugs had come from, what their objective was, and how best to stop them. Miyuki had gone on ahead to deal with the leaders, but Itori wasn't planning to just stand around waiting for more mooks to attack them. Better to move ahead and also aim for the leaders. Miyuki might be good, but she could not possibly believe that she was better on her own than if she had allies with her. That would require her to believe that the others, including her brother, would actually count as a penalty to her own abilities.

First of all was finding out where to go next though. Itori held up a hand to indicate for the two males that they should hold off on making any decisions on what to do next as she slowly walked past all the fallen thugs, inspecting them one by one. Weak, weak, weak, slightly strong... Eventually Itori knelt in the strongest of the bunch, carefully grabbing his head with both hands and lifting it. Placing her forehead against his she healed him just enough to return him to the edge of consciousness, after which she placed her lips next to his ear and whispered something, too soft for anybody but the dazed and confused thug to hear. After that the thug answered just as softly, sounding as if he was talking in his sleep. Itori repeated the procedure several times, extracting all the necessary information from the thug, before sending him back to sleep and returning to the males.

Pressing her fingertips against each other the fox girl created a new illusionary map for her companions, showing them their surroundings. The thug had provided her with plenty of information about where they were and what kind of things they could expect around here. The map was significantly larger than the one Itori had shown Miyuki and Kaede before, adding the new information. Miyuki's location was also pinpointed, together with the five thugs that she had already encountered. The map also showed that Miyuki had already subdued the thugs. Further into the forest, beyond Miyuki's position, there was a building, which had several larger figures located inside. According to the thug that was where they could find the leaders of these thugs, which meant they could head over there and take care of them. Itori placed her finger on their current location and drew a line towards that building, a line which had them meeting up with Miyuki along the way. Her finger was followed by a vermilion line. Since the thug had also been able to provide Itori with ample information about where all the other thugs were Itori had adjusted their newest trajectory to make sure that they would avoid most of the enemies in the area. Combined with her illusions they should be able to pass by and meet up with Miyuki without any issue. She displayed the illusions as shimmering air that surrounded the trail, hoping that the other two would figure out what it meant.

Having explained her suggestion without actually speaking Itori looked up at Mashyuu and Kaede, waiting for their reaction. She hoped they'd just go along with her decision since it seemed the easiest way to deal with the problem. Catch up with Miyuki, use illusions and careful manoeuvring to avoid all the mooks, head for that building where the leaders could be found and take those down. After that the thugs should no longer be an issue for them. However Mashyuu was still the one in charge here, so she looked at him expectantly. The last time that he had been in charge he hadn't shown himself as thoughtful as wary as she had hoped, as he had apparently been planning to just walk up to the slaver ship and cause trouble. However had also listened to her when she had suggested disguising themselves, so even if he himself wasn't inclined towards acting sneaky he was willing to consider it if the suggestion was offered to him. Now just to hope he would accept this suggestion of sneakiness and carefulness as well. The fox girl's tail swayed slowly behind her as she waited for the eventual decision from their leader.

The battle had gone well and everyone seemed to be safe and well. Mashyuu smiled at his teammates until Kaede explained that his sister had gone off again. He sighed with a muted annoyance and rubbed the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. His sharp blue eyes glared up at Kaede while his lip trembled with his sharp fangs sticking past his upper lip for a moment. "Your sister ran off again on her own?.... Kaede I'm trying really hard to not take charge of things because we are a team. But if your sister is going to be doing things like this al the time... She needs to be a team player or one day she's going to get herself killed. She almost did it when she jumped over the edge of the cliff instead of realizing that one of us actually had the exact skill set to save you without risking our own lives!" Mashyuu shouted while Itori started to speak into one of the men's ear. His ears twitched at the slight whisper in the air but even he couldn't make out what she was saying or what Itori even sounded like.

Mashyuu put his attention on the fox woman when she pulled up a map of the area and without a word explained that she thought they should all try to meet back up with the wayward Miyuki. Mashyuu didn't understand why the team was still looking at him like he was the leader of the group. He didn't feel like one and he for sure never asked to be the leader. Hell three of the four Wizards were actually the same exact rank. Mashyuu took a shuddering deep breath then spoke. "Kaede, her name is Itori. She is a mute so try to find a way to communicate please... Itori, lets go find our missing team mate before she gets into trouble but I think that at this point she can handle herself. These guys are push overs at best. I'm sorry I didn't let you handle these tools but I was afraid that they would be able to see through your spells. When we get to the whatever the hell these guys are hiding in lets break off into two groups. Kaede find your sister and take out the guys who set this all up. Itori and I will hold down the front gates for your escape and try to draw as many thugs as possible towards us." Mashyuu explained and without saying another word he turned on his heels and headed towards where Itori had shown on her map illusion.

WC: 442

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Well, at least Mashyuu was apologizing for disrupting Itori's plan and going off to fight off these thugs instead of letting her play with them, making them run in circles as he went to get the siblings. It had turned out that he by himself had already been nearly enough to deal with all of them by himself, but the principle was still there. She was the one with the elusive and tricky abilities, and inside a forest she could quite easily make people get least indefinitely, no matter if they had grown up within that very same forest and knew every single tree. Tricking and deceiving, leaving people wondering about their own sanity, was a vital part of her skill set and to be denied the opportunity to use that, when a perfect opportunity had first been offered to her, didn't leave her particularly happy. If it wasn't for Mashyuu apologizing she would have been trying to find a way to get back at him.

Of course, the fact that he apologized kind of became negated when he said that he was afraid that they would see through her trickery. The Kumiho went very still, just staring at Mashyuu without showing any emotion at all. On the inside, however... Some girls might feel flattered if a guy went out of his way to protect them. They might even find it romantic. Him considering the possibility that things might go wrong and deciding to take the bullet for her, that was the kind of story that some girls loved and hoped would someday happen to them as well. However for Itori insinuating that some thugs could see through her illusions was pretty much the highest insult anybody could ever give her. The only thing which was worse was to insult her sisters, and that wasn't even directed at Itori personally. If you wanted to make Itori mad outside of using her sisters (which quite honestly was too easy a target to aim at) you just had to express doubt in her illusions and her skill at trickery and deception. She was a Kumiho, a creature that lived and breathed cunning and trickery. Using illusions and smarts to outwit, confuse, and even terrify whatever unfortunate soul found themselves her prey... That was just a part of what being a Kumiho was all about. And this man was saying that he didn't think that these guys, these thugs that he had just described as pushovers himself, would be tricked by her. Or at least, that he feared that might happen. It was a good thing that Itori managed to hide everything behind a completely emotionless face, or Mashyuu might have to become afraid of the sheer anger and offence that now painted her soul. Apologies weren't good enough to make up for this. She would have to make sure that this ignorant human would learn his mistake. Learn, and regret ever doubting Itori's skill as a master illusionist and cunning Kumiho. He might be good in a fight, but so far he had managed to make her severely unimpressed at his intelligence.

As for Kaede, he got another emotionless stare when he tried to excuse Miyuki's actions yet again. He thought that he could just claim that they were untrustworthy, which was why the siblings were allowed to go off on their own? It was such a laughable claim that it almost made Itori break out into laughter. As it was, she barely managed to suppress a snort of raw disdain and sardonic mirth. What a guy. Strong, fast, good in a fight, but he was so attached to his sister that whatever intelligence he might have was blinded and made useless when it came to her. She was beginning to wonder what she was to do with these two. And Miyuki as well. Unless they stepped up their game on the mental level she'd have to treat them as nothing more than brawns for her to throw at the cannon fodder. Sure, Miyuki and Kaede had some skills when it came to creating strategies, however that wouldn't mean a thing if she couldn't trust them to behave properly. One of them did whatever she wanted, and the other would do whatever he could to cover for her, defending her and making up flawed excuses for her.

To summarize, the fox girl was currently both highly offended and severely unimpressed. She didn't respond, react, or give any sign of caring about anything done by either Mashyuu or Kaede after that. She just followed the two once they set out, once again staying utterly silent. She wouldn't waste her energy communicating with either of them. One of them was ignorant and incapable of realizing that he was in the presence of a great illusionist and trickster. The other, his mind contained a single point of failure, and unfortunately that point of failure showed itself too often. Because he would never leave his sister, and that very sister was the point of failure.

Better to leave them alone and keep her thoughts to herself. She would have to figure out the best way to deal with these thugs. Now that her mood had been soured thoroughly she had even less motivation to bother trying to keep them alive than before. The two males she was following had once again shown her that she couldn't trust humans to be sensible. These thugs were most likely of no importance either. Just pathetic unintelligent and ignorant creatures which the world was better off without. If they encountered more of them she'd dispatch them all post-haste. She still had her blade, and for these low-level unskilled opponents that was everything she needed. Maybe she could calm herself somewhat by seeing those weak souls be separated from their bodies, forced to depart this world and head for the next. Maybe if they were lucky enough they would be allowed to reincarnate as something with actual intelligence. Maybe they would be lucky enough not to encounter Itori another time while her mood was like this. She didn't like violence, but that was mostly because she found the act of hitting each other with lumps of metal barbaric and crude. There was a vast difference between that and just slicing somebody's throat with one smooth motion.

Things were getting tense between the Wizards who were supposed to be a team. Instead of letting the situation escalate more than it already had Mashyuu rolled his shoulders and walked away. "Enough of this. We need to keep moving. So lets just get along until we can find out who sent us the message about this place and figure out why. After that we can fight about who did what wrong." The Earth Slayer had stated more than once that he didn't think of himself as the team leader but if the others were going to thrust it upon him he wasn't going to continue to show the inability to act or command.

Mashyuu walked through the forest, taking his time to recover his magical energy and make sure that he didn't miss anything that might show where the thugs were hiding out. As the trio walked Mashyuu scooped up a clump of dirt and started to eat it. After roughly twenty minutes of walking the blue eyed Wizards stopped and started to look around. "The tre-!" He started to say until one of trees sprouted a wooden arm and grabbed Mashyuu by the waist. It hoisted him high into the air and tossed him above the thick canopy of branches. Mashyuu went sailing into the sky, screaming from the sudden fear.

The tree that grabbed Mashyuu stood up on it's roots, towering at nearly fifteen feet it's knotholes took on the visage of a twisted face as it looked down on the other two. Six branches lashed for the remaining Wizards three to each Wizard so that the monster could grab and eat whatever it managed to get.

WC: 282