Mischievous Imps [Job]

A promise once made was sacred. And it wasn't like Leila disliked Zoey, in fact, it was pretty much the opposite. She wanted to help that girl any way she possibly could, no matter how hard it would be. And just like that, she would find herself doing this kind of job once more. Honestly, it wasn't that long ago since she was doing these things herself, and mainly, by herself. Jobs back then were rather lonely and boring to do. But nowadays she was meeting all kinds of curious wizards and other oddities that helped her complete her tasks. And with some of them she even became friend. And since Zoey was still a low ranked mage, she now had to do these contracts in order to get some reputation and real experience.

But the girl was so fragile looking with her shy and somewhat meekly attitude. Her magic also far from complete, who knows what would happen if she tried to fight all those battles alone. So for now, Leila wanted to show her the basics, maybe let her learn a thing or two. Their magics were pretty similar as well, meaning that she could potentially get few ideas on how to use her own strength and magical energy from watching the trees of Eden in real combat. By now, Leila did consider herself to be fairly experienced in the field and in battle as well. It was still little odd to be actually mentoring someone like this, but it didn't feel bad either. It was almost as if she was Zoey's big sister who was making sure she does everything correctly or something.

It wasn't exactly the image Leila was going for, but what can you do. Everything must be for the first time at some point, this included. And it would perhaps allow her to relax a little bit as well, facing weaker enemy. Lately she was saving villages from actual murderers and real threats that she never imagined beatable by her own magic. According to the details of this contract, they had to simply exterminate some imps. Those guys were usually pretty weak and more of a mischievous force than an actual danger. Of course that didn't mean they should take them lightly. Still, it was a good feeling, knowing that she wasn't the weakling she once was and that these enemies were actually below her level to some degree.

It didn't take too long before she finally arrived to the place where she was supposed to meet up with Zoey and their contractor who would show them where exactly their enemies are. Neither of them were there yet, since Leila was here way too early as always. Better early than late, that was one of many rules that she always lived by, and right now was no different. The sun was already pretty high up in the sky, sending it's warm rays of sunlight down onto Leila's pale-ish skin and the lush grass, along with the dirt road she was currently standing on. It was definitely not your standart trading route, that much was clear already from the basic description they received. Some would detest helping traders that were dabbling in illegal goods... but the pay was best in this area, no questioning that.

For now, she just had to wait for her partner and contractor to arrive. Seeing as there wasn't much going on in the area, she produced a small crystal ball from one of her pockets, throwing it into the air and watching as it started shining with magical light and quickly transforming. What hit the ground afterwards was not the ball anymore, but a small furry creature instead. Her little pet named Ori was on the job with her, as was customary. Even though he could not aid them in combat by any means, he was still adorable and a good company in situations like these. And the field was pretty open as well, allowing the adorable creature to properly stretch and run around, which he loved most. Sitting down onto the grass and eventually even laying down, Leila let the sun bathe her in the warm light as time slowly passed along with her not doing anything besides relaxing. At least it wasn't too hot, she hated when it was too hot. And her armor wasn't helping that either, as it was rather different from all of those modern plates that loved to reveal as much skin as possible. Hers was a more traditional outfit that covered most of her body instead. And when it was hot, there was no ventilation at all with it. But that was probably just a small cost of it's protectiveness all around, no point in questioning it too much. And as more time passed, she slowly fell asleep, waiting for Zoey to wake her up once she arrives.

---

So it was finally time to try something more challenging. She was nearing the canyon she was supposed to meet Leila at. She was kind of nervous for this, more for the actual job than meeting Leila. She seemed so nice, the mission was definitely a bigger worry of her than meeting the other nature mage. The reward of this mission was rather high, something which definitely attracted Zoey. She wouldn't ask to much about it, the less they knew about what's inside the cargo the better... probably.

She also was a little unsure how she saw Leila now. After what happened in the forest east of Magnolia she clearly liked her, but Zoey wasn't sure how much. She decided not to think to much about it. It wasn't like she had many friends to start with, so it was rather difficult to compare most of them.

She wondered what those imps looked like. The job description says they are imps, but that also means they are demons. Why are those imps here in the first place, just because they are demons? Something about them didn't right about here. Where did these guys even live in the first place? There was so much she didn't knew about them, which she could learn. To bad if her vision of these creatures were true they probably won't be willing to answer her. It didn't took that long until she arrived at the meeting spot only a little earlier than agreed only to find out that Leila already arrived here earlier.

"Hello Leila! I hope I didn't let you wait too long?" She greeted the other girl. There was still a little time before their client should arrive. So maybe there was still some time to ask the girl some things.

"Have you ever met imps, or just demons before?" She asked the other mage. She just couldn't hold her curiosity about this subject. If she knew anything about them then that could be vital in defeating them.

Spoiler:

A pleasant dream where Leila drifted through space, surrounded by tables on clouds. And those tables filled with melons to the point where they were almost falling off. The green balls and all of that red sweetness inside made her into the happiest girl on the planet right now. Of course that was all but a dream, something that could not last forever. And soon, a soft voice penetrated the endless skies, tearing them apart and gently waking the girl up, only for her to notice that Zoey had arrived.

Quickly wiping out a bit of saliva that was going down her chin from that delicious dream, Leila tried to regain her somewhat elegant composure in a hurry. It appeared that her partner arrived alone, meaning that they were still waiting for the contractor to show up. And those words that woke her up, they sounded like a question. Trying to recall what Zoey asked, it took her few seconds before she was able to leave that still half-asleep state and understand completely what was going on here. "Oh no, you definitely didn't! I was just taking a short nap, is all."

After reassuring Zoey that she in fact wasn't waiting here too long, she tried to think of a good answer for that second question. Her mind quickly traveled back to the time when she met that one other silver-haired mage and helped him stop invasion of demons from place called Hell. It was quite a showdown, that one. "Well, I did meet imps before. And other demons too... one of them was this giant centipede-like things which was spewing out lava everywhere. Sheehs, just remembering that thing s making my skin crawl..."

It was true that she had fought them all, along with that odd devil's arms user. But this mission was probably nothing like that. After all, they were just imps and not man eating demons made out of flames. "I suppose that imps are like... the lowest of all demons? Honestly, they're more like flying rats, just cuter!" There was probably more kinds of imps, not just the one. But when she fought them last, she was capable of slicing them up in few little attacks. So there was probably no need to worry about anything. Worse case scenario, Leila would do anything to protect Zoey from harm's way.

And speaking about their job, a single man slowly approached the duo, a look of suspicion on his face. He did not speak at first, only his eyes moved around, scanning the two girls. The moment he saw Golden Phoenix's guild mark however, his body became way more relaxed and a small sigh escaped his mouth. "Oh, it is you two. The wizards that are supposed to take care of our imp problem. So... what do you need to know?" With his words, Leila got up from her still laying down state, brushing off her clothes and removing stray pieces of grass that managed to stuck to her.

"First, where exactly are those imps? And how many are there?" That was truly all Leila needed to know to successfully complete this contract. "Right. They took control over the path that way... I'm not sure how many there are, however. There was too many to count when they first jumped us." His second answer was far from satisfactory, but that was just how it went with these requests. If they were to beat every single one they met, it should suffice. Looking at Zoey, she waited if she had any questions in regards to their job.

---

When Zoey came closer to Leila she noticed the girl wasn't just sitting, she was sleeping. Oh what a missed opportunity. Zoey thought Leila would look really cute while sleeping. Too bad, maybe another time she could have a better look at that. That also sounded a little creepy, but it wasn't like she was planning something. How bad could it be?

"ah Sorry about that." She said as neared the girl. Apologizing for waking her up. Maybe Leila just didn't sleep well or a lot this night and she was catching up sleep. Or maybe she just liked to sleep. Anyway she felt slightly guilty for this. Not to the extent that she did something unforgivable, but she would still feel a lot better by apologizing.

"Eh? Giant Centipede?" That's certainly not what she expected of a demon, but in this world that didn't even mean it was it's real form. it could have used some kind of magic or trick. It also could be it's real form. It's not like she knew anything about demons, so she wouldn't question it too much.

"Just cuter. You sure they actually are demons?" She responded to the other mage. What she heard from the description these creatures were far from cute. So she thought it was a little strange of Leila to call them cute. Well, she would find out soon enough. Suddenly a man spoke from behind Zoey to the two girls. This startled the young mage a little when he suddenly was there behind her.

"Ah... I didn't see you there. Yes that's us." Or course, she was immediately giving of the right impression on their client. If he could surprise them without trying those small demons would be fun to meet, to say the least.

"Alright, let's get going then!" zoey reacted after the man said he didn't knew how many of those Imps were active in the area. They would find out soon enough, she wasn't sure if she was ready for this, but now is as good as ever.

Spoiler:

For some reason, Leila got a strange impression from watching Zoey's face as she apologized for waking her up. Was there something she wanted, or perhaps something she was planning? Not that it really mattered much in the end, she was glad to be awake. Always better to spend time with your friends when you're fully conscious rather than when you're sleeping. "Well, if you're really sorry, maybe you could let me sleep on your lap later~" Trying to tease the girl a little, Leila giggled and listened further to her responses to the demons she had met in the past.

"Yeah, that thing was super gross. It had two legs with a giant torso... and from there, two big centipedes that were wiggling and going everywhere! I'm glad we managed to send it back into the depths of Hell..." Whatever that thing was, it was dangerous. And it managed to seriously injure both Leila and her partner at the time. But at this point in time, she had already healed completely and no one would be able to tell that most of her body was seriously burned at any point. It would be a real shame if those burn marks remained on her body after all. Some would maybe find it beautiful, but Leila liked her skin smooth like it was now, safe for the few spots that were corrupted by Eden's magic. Honestly, if her skin was to be match of normal, gray and burns, no many people would probably talk to her. Then she would be a true amalgamation and monstrosity.

The imps too, were not exactly something you'd want to cuddle with. But compared to everything else, you could easily say that they were cute, even if you didn't mean it literally. But it still meant that they shouldn't worry about fighting anything too disgusting. Unless these specific imps were made out of maggots and pulsing flesh or something. Though she truly doubted that. This was just your everyday contract, not some horror show for two innocent girls. Although the thought of them going on a horror show together was somewhat appealing. Of course, Leila didn't know how well would Zoey deal with these things, but in her mind, a lovely scenario where she would have to comfort her constantly grew. Another one of her fantasies, nearly making her go out of control as the mental image of herself hugging and patting Zoey wouldn't go away no matter what. Leila was truly hopeless sometimes, thinking of something like this when she was on a job that had a lot of importance to her partner. At least this time she was able to keep it all inside of her head.

After they were told everything, the man simply nodded and started waiting for the two of them to go and solve his problems. Zoey was surprisingly eager to do so too. That was good, it meant that she wasn't too scared or hesitant. "Yes, let's." With those words, they started marching on the dirt road together, drawing closer to their goal with each passed second. It didn't take too long before a rustling sound could be heard from the bushes around, indicating that the enemy would soon jump out and face them, whoever they were and in what numbers. It also meant that these guys wanted to ambush them in some manner, as they probably weren't strong enough to confront them directly. Truly, imps through and through. They were good for nothing but trouble and honor said nothing to them at all. Perhaps that was the very reason for them to be labeled as the symbol of mischievousness and all. On the other hand, this was probably one of the best missions for Zoey to start with, as she would face weaker enemies that she should be able to handle even with her current strength.

---

The member 'VindStot' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

---

'Monster Dice' :

"Eh, sure..." She hesitantly said back to Leila. Truth be told she wouldn't mind that in the slightest. No way she was vocally going to agree with that though.

"That... doesn't sound all to appealing to deal with." Was her only possibly reaction on a horrified face. She really hoped the imps where nothing creepy or scary like that. After all, this would be her first real actual fight. She had her doubts about killing others. She didn't however, know if she should consider demons to count among this. Technically they aren't people... but that didn't mean it sat entirely right with her.

She started to think what would happen if she lost here. Nope didn't want to think about what the imps were planning to do with her. She had no idea how strong she actually was herself nor Leila or the imps, yet she still wanted to test it out somehow. After Leila's reaction she started to follow the other nature mage to the imps.

A short cry left Zoey's mouth as the bush started to shake a bit. A short moment later 4 imps jumped out of it ready to attack. It was to late to counter, she could however still do something to retaliate the enemies that decided to attack her.

"Shield of Thorns" She quickly said as a small leaf with thorns out grew from A magic circle from her arm. Which she used to block the two attacks of the two imps that attacked her, causing them to jump back in pain. Little did Zoey however know about the tiny imp that was ready to strike her from the other bush behind her.

Spoiler:

spell:

The fact that Zoey ageed with being a lap-pillow made Leila rather excited! She made sure to remember it so that she could get that reward at some point in the future for sure. No way she would skip on something like this!

And her reaction to the centipede demon was only natural. It truly was a gross enemy. But that also help when she wanted to destroy it. It's harder to punch something that's cute rather than something that isn't although that also worked with being that were just too gross to even touch. At least Leila wasn't too sensitive about things things, she would grab a spider any day.

Neverminding that, they were soon in battle and Zoey used her first spell. Obviously it was first time for Leila as well. "Ooh, that's awesome! You should have said that you can do stuff like this as well!" After all, what she saw before was nothing more than Zoey summoning flowers. This was on way bigger scale than just some small plant life. And she even managed to get two imps with it. Another two of them were trying to attack Leila, but she was easily faster and more flexible than them, not having any problems with dodging all of their puny attacks.

But there was something... a little sense of unease. And then Leila spotted it! A small imp was hiding inside of a bush that faced Zoey's back. He was smaller than the rest of the enemies and clearly wanted to jump the poor girl, attack when she wasn't looking. Something like that could not be allowed! "Eden's winds, heed my call, give me your speed!" With those words, she disappeared in a gust of wind and appeared right behind her partner, kicking the chibi imp that just jumped out of the bush. Her boot hit him right in the face and send him flying back into the woods. This one was probably out of the game.

For the other two that were around... they looked a little bit more touch, but still nothing special. With a snap of Leila's fingers, a trap was placed between her and the little devils. Of course, it was invisible to them, invisible even to Zoey. They walked straight into it, only for strong roots to emerge from the ground and wrap around the beasts, easily restraining them. For now, they weren't beaten yet, but they were unable to move. Maybe they could use them for some little training in this state.

---

"Thanks!"She said after Leila kicked the little imp she only saw after the other mage attacked it. But there were still four imps left as her shield didn't really hurt a lot towards those. It was more meant to protect herself than to actually defeat those imps. At least Leila managed to restrict two more of the little demons, meaning there were only two that could actually fight for now.

The two attacked again, so there was no time to attack the restrained ones. Instead she aimed her attack at one of the two that were coming after her. She had to think and act fast, otherwise this was going to hurt a lot.

"Razor Leaf!" She shouted. It had been a while since she raised her voice, but since the situation was so tense she couldn't hold herself anymore. Granted, she never had a serious fight before. This was the first fight were death was possible, even though she trusted that if she messed up Leila would protect her. Her attack seemed to be able to bring the afflicted imp to unconsciousness.

"Agh!"The one she didn't hit scratched her arm. Zoey quickly took a few steps back. She could hear the Imp laugh maniacally, apparently it liked hitting girls. It wasn't really serious... but that didn't mean it didn't hurt. They should end this battle soon, she wasn't sure how long she could keep this up for very long. Of course, she couldn't really know how serious it was, but as she still could feel and move her arm it couldn't be all that bad.

Spoiler:

spell:

No problem! Responding to Zoey's thanks, Leila felt maybe more useful than she actually should. After all, she was helping this girl to get through her few first real jobs. And obviously, they were all way below Leila's actual level of skill. If she wanted, she should be able to just easily end everything in mere seconds. But this was not her contract, it was her partner's. And she would respect that, no matter what. At least until a small scream sounded from behind her back, clearly belonging to the girl she was with.

Turning swiftly to see what was happening, she spotted slightly wounded Zoey who was standing in front of one of the imps who clearly just attacked her. It was only him and the two she just trapped remaining on the battlefield. And the fact that they hurt her friend, well, it made her rather angry. Leila simply hated seeing her friends hurt unnecessarily like this, it made her angry inside. But at least she always managed to retain her cool composure, never letting her emotions take control over her.

That said, this anger could only help her get rid of all these imps. Swiftly teleporting in front of Zoey using the same spell as before, she would block the imp from causing any other injuries. The little creature was still laughing, not knowing what was headed his way. "For harming my friend... a punishment from the Earth itself! Prepare yourself, you fiend!"

With those words, a pretty scary smile placed itself on Leila's face, one of her hands extended towards him while the other one was behind her back. And as it was hidden there from the imp, it was clearly visible to Zoey. Leila's skin would slowly start changing on that one hand, it's color suddenly turning gray with hints of black-ish vein-like markings. Soon, it was rather similar to a very odd branch from a tree. And from that, her hand would only transform more. Soon, one would be incapable of telling that it once was a girl's arm. For right now, it looked like a giant drill made out of wood that was implanted onto her body somehow.

At least it wasn't rotating, as it was part of her body. And seeing how it was made out of magical wood, making it move like that would be simply impossible. Even when transforming parts of her body like this, anatomy was still a thing, and Leila could not change that by any means. At least as long as she wanted to remain looking like a normal human being. So instead, she made visible wind blades rotate around her newly created weapon, provided by that little bell she was hiding. A handy thing it was.

"You had your time to prepare... now fight back!" Shouting playfully, Leila quickly bolted forward without any further warning. That clearly startled the poor imp, as his laughter turned into worried hissing, his body turning and trying to run away. But he was simply too slow, the drill of wood and wind burying into his back. She intentionally made it weaker than her usual creations, as she didn't want to kill the poor creature. Still, it must have been pretty painful to go through. He flew quite a bit and eventually disappeared back in the bushes, never to be seen again.

Turning towards the other two imps, she would repeat the same process. Only this time, they had nowhere to run. After all, they were still held in place by her roots like rats in cages. No escape at all, only waiting for their defeat. Sure, she could have spared them and offer them to Zoey as dummies for training... but she clearly already used quite a few spells of her own. And for a mage on her level, that could have easily been already pretty exhausting. Leila knew that from her own experience. Drilling the last two into figurative oblivion, she finished this encounter without delaying too much.

And after the deed was done, she transformed her hand back into it's normal state where it indeed looked like a normal hand again. Turning back and running towards her partner again, she would examine her wound. "Does it hurt? I should have some her cream that can cover most of the pain, if you want..." Worried for her young partner, she was willing to help in any way possible. Even if she had to do something childish as blow some wind on the wound and say that everything will be just fine. Thankfully it was not a big injury, just something that should heal in matter of hours.

---

Zoey would show them. That was only a flesh wound, she could easily make a comeback from this. At least that was what she was thinking right now. Maybe it was the fact that she wasn't alone in this that made her feel more confident and stronger than she usually was. Even if it hurt she could deal with this.

Just as she was going to preparing a spell to make her opponent pay for attacking her another figure attacked the opponent before. She didn't even had the time to make a spell circle when her opponent was already defeated before her eyes. She could see Leila handing that imps behind to him. What happened to her arm scared Zoey little. That certainly wasn't any ordinary plant magic that was learned around these parts of Fiore. What kind of magic was that? She realized she had no real reason to judge the other girl as her curse looked even more malicious than this once it was active. She looked a little shocked, but recovered rather quickly.

"That was... impressive!" Zoey said after Leila vanquished the last imp. She should have helped a little more but she was just to impressed to what Leila could do, a little frightened but also impressed. Because she was sure that Leila was on here side and would never want to harm her she didn't really feel that afraid anymore. After inspecting her arm a little better she concluded that it would be perfectly fine if they took care of the wound after the job was done.

"No. I am fine. We should save our resources, whether they be magic or items for when we actually need them." Zoey already felt a little bad about not contributing much during this battle. If she was going to take even more than she actually needed she would really feel worse about it. It was kinda true they might need them later though, as this was only the first group they met.

Spoiler:

Rather than being scared or disgusted with Leila, Zoey said that what she did was impressive. That certainly was good, it would be pretty bad if they started disliking one another so soon after meeting and going out together on their first job. But were her actions really that impressive. Obviously, to her it was completely normal. And while some other people in the past praised her skills as well, she never truly saw them as something extra. Even though her magic was indeed one of the most rare ones, simply because no ordinary human was capable of controlling it without sacrificing their body in the process. And even Leila had several corrupted spots on her body where skin looked like a gray bark of a tree. In her case, however, those thins were helping, as they were filled with magical energy, making her capacity larger than the one of normal humans as well.

And then there was that little question about Zoey's injury. Even though she looked like a normal girl, she already had a sense of urgency and knew that their equipment was limited and could only last so long if they were to use it rashly. To that, Leila simply hat to chuckle a little. It was a nice thing, but with the type of mission this one was, there was really no need to be this cautious. Still, it was a great training for future when she really finds herself in a tight spot with little items to use. "Don't worry about it, it's my own medicine. That said, it doesn't actually heal the wound, just stops the pain. And I can always make more, so there is no need to hold back."

With those words, she produced the small box from one of her pockets and opened it. Inside was indeed filled with a white cream that had a slight tint of green to it. Getting some on her finger, she would spread the healing material on Zoey's wound before putting the box away again. It was cold against her skin, but that was it. And soon, her pain would surely subdue completely. They had to continue with this contract, after all. And it could get difficult if one of them was held back by an injury. That said, an unnatural wind started picking up and soon enough, there was another group of imps with wings flying in. They clearly didn't like the fact that the girls beat their friends like that. And judging by their numbers, this was probably the rest of all the imps in the area, too. Which meant that they were close to the end. "Alright! Let's do our best to finish this quickly! And don't get intimidated by their numbers... I'm here to help, after all~"

---

The member 'VindStot' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

---

'Monster Dice' :

"Eh... Alright then. Go ahead." Zoey bit her teeth a bit once the cold feeling cream touched her arm. She would endure it, but at this moment it sure wasn't nice to feel that cold on her arm. She just patiently waited until Leila was done with cream. Shortly after she was done the pain was almost completely away.

"Um... thanks." She said after the other girl was done. She doubted her injury would be a bother in next fight, but better safe then sure. Especially with what was flying towards the group in the distance. That didn't look like it was a group she wanted to engage. Still As long as she wasn't alone she couldn't just flee and let Leila take care of things. There was no option but to fight.

It seemed the small ones didn't really cared much for a stealth attack this time. Of course when you were in such a large amount against two a sneak attack was rather unnecessary. Not to mention the same trick becomes less effect the more you use it. A small plan started to form in her head to turn the tide into their favor.

"Be careful... don't inhale this! It will slow you." Zoey warned her partner before the imps arrived. In the meantime she waited for the imps to be in range. Once they came closer Zoey would create a magic circle from which a small plant grew in front of the imps. Once they were within rage some spores were released from the plant.

"Spore... Speed." She said once the circle disappeared and the plan withered and died. All the imps within range became noticeably slower... except the boss. But all others should be somewhat affected by the spores.

status:

spell:

"No problem at all." Leila playfully responded to Zoey's thanks and faced the way their enemies were coming. There really was a lot of them, not that numbers meant much to her. But for her parter, it probably was pretty horrific sight. Despite that, she stood her ground and decided to fight, even taking the first step in the battle and deciding to put all of those imps into a disadvantage.

"Roger!" Leila saluted when she heard those words, a warning to not breathe in the slowing spores. To avoid them all, she just quickly grew a tree under her feet, getting on one of the branches and letting it bring her higher into the air. From there, she had a lovely view of the entire battlefield and clear position advantage. "Hmm... I should probably take the strongest one and make sure they don't reach Zoey too easily... alright!"

Saying those words to herself, she suddenly produced a beautiful golden key from one of her pockets. And pointing it forward, he started chanting as her magic got channeled into the key itself, drawing a briliant magical circle that was brighter than the stars themselves. "Golden gate of heavenly scales, Libra... I open thee!" And just like that, a flash of blinding light covered the canyon. And once it was done, there was another woman standing next to Leila, her skin of ebony color, clothed in oriental clothes suggesting that she could be a belly dancer.

"Make sure they don't reach that girl, can you?" It was a simple command, but it was enough. Libra nodded and jumped from the tree, slowly flowing down and landing right behind Zoey where she started moving her golden scales in a specific motion. Suddenly a gravitational field appeared around those two, repelling all those imps and making the even slower. They were basically crawling now. In the meantime, Leila had a simple plan to crush the boss of these imps. Jumping down from the tree herself, she would quickly kick him down into the dirt road and just back again, making two other trees suddenly grow around him. And without any warning, they nearly squished him in-between them. "That's what you get. Now, sleep." With that, she turned to see how her partner was holding up.

---

Those trees. That was a mighty useful spell. Being out of range from all those demons was probably a safe area. However that also meant that most wouldn't bother going after her first. Which means... of course that most of the imps were charging  at the blonde mage. Who clearly didn't like that. Causing her to run away to keep her distance. If those things captured her it would be over. Luckily they were still slowed by her magic so it was much more manageable. Zoey didn't got very far however before a strange looking person appeared out a flash of light Who then jumped towards Zoey from Leila's high position.

Tanner than anyone Zoey had ever seen before and clothes that seemed to belong to someone far away definitely confused Zoey a little, but as it seemed she was attacking the demons she would consider her an ally.

""Eh thanks... I guess. She said after the mysterious woman stopped the demons. They were really slow for now, might be a good moment to sling a few spells at them.

Razor leaf! She shouted while a large leaf was send outside of a magic circle that appeared in front of her. It hit most of the demons chasing her and outright defeated the smaller ones. The others seemed only wounded.

status:

spell:

From looking over, it was apparent that Zoey had no idea who Libra was. Well, that was probably a normal reaction to a new figure appearing on the battlefield. Not everyone was interested in celestial magic and knew the twelve golden spirits, the zodiacs. She would just have to explain after all of this was over. And it looked like it would not take that much longer before all those imps were defeated. The weaker ones were already done and only few of the stronger ones remained. But for now, Leila remained standing in the back, observing how Zoey would deal with this situation.

"I am at your disposal." Those were words that Libra spoke towards the girl, bowing lightly. Since Leila had given her command to protect this one, she had no problems with taking her orders into consideration as well. She was a quiet spirit, but her power was something that you could not ignore. Sure Zoey would be able to overcome this battle with her help, allowing herself to grow. Sure, Leila could just jump in and easily defeat all the remaining ones, but that would defeat the point of this. And she would do so only if Zoey specifically called for help or was in danger. Not sooner than then. It was kinda funny how she wanted to become a guardian angel for this girl. But that power of nature, it was her own and she had to nurture it by herself. There was no way around that, unfortunately.

---

"Eh, okay. Help me I guess?" She had no idea what this woman could do so she couldn't really give her concrete orders. The other reason was the horde of imps trying to get a piece of her. Speaking of which, some of them were lashing out towards her.

"Shield of thorns!" She said as she could stand a chance right now while they were slowed by the mysterious lady. Another magic circle appeared on her hand and a leaf appeared, just as before. With this she would be able to counter any of the little monsters that try to get to close to her. Of course, approaching them now when they were slowed was a bad idea, so she would stay at range for now.

"Razor leaf!" She said and another magic circle launched a leaf towards the imps. The leaves would visible tear the feral ones apart, to bad her aim was off and she missed one, causing it to reach her and strike her on her leg. Another shout of pain left her mouth. This one could be much more trouble since this one didn't have a tiny claw like the last one. She tried to jump back, which she was still possible so her legs were still functional. She was ready for round 2 she only hoped that the strange woman or Leila could keep the other imps of for a little longer.

status:

spell:

Libra just kinda stood there and stared. She had no emotional or other bond with Zoey what so ever, and thus had no real desire to actually protect her without direct orders. Of course, since she didn't know the girl at all, she could to tell what she was thinking either. And that was a bit bothersome, as another imp managed to reach and hurt her, despite the fact that she was using a lot of her energy for both defense and attack. But at this point, all of her spells must have been put on cooldown, unable to be used again for a little while.

That meant Zoey would be in trouble if any more of those imps managed to get close to her delicate-looking body. And so, Leila decided that they should end this for good. After all, there was not much left anyway. Only few imps that were trying their damn hardest to get few lucky hits in. Something like that, well... it was not really worth crying over. "Libra! Finish them off!"

Now, that was a command she could easily get behind. It was simple and understandable, yet carried a whole lot of weight and effectiveness. Moving her scales again, gravity everywhere around her and Zoey was dramatically increased, forcing the hostile creatures into the ground, not giving them chance to move at all. And in only few seconds, all of them lost their consciousness. It seemed that none of them died, but they were definitely out of it. And something this, it would serve as a lesson for them not to come back here again. No creature wanted to feel pain, even if they were very basic and lead by their instincts.

As the battlefield grew more quiet, Leila ran towards her partner and stopped only a little in front of her, her irises carefully examining her. "Good job! That was the last of them, I can't feel any other foreign magic around at all. But... you were injured again, weren't you? I'm so sorry, it's my fault for trying to leave it all to you! I can try to take care of the wound if you want..." She felt really bad that the girl got injured. And it looked a bit more serious that the other wound as well. But the job was now pretty much over, so they had time to take care of everything if necessary.

---

This was starting to look bad. The imps while slow were advancing in on her position. that and her spore began to run out, making it impossible for zoey to escape the imps. However she had one last trick to plot out.

"vines" She said and vines starting to grow outside of the ground under the imps that were closing in on her. After being grabbed the vines quickly threw them into the sky. She could hear Leila telling the other lady to finish the imps off. However while she did that something strange felt into Zoey. For some reason those creatures gave her a familiar vibe, even though zoey never had seen any kind of demon before let alone one type specifically. What was she feeling then right now? Once the enemies were defeated Leila approached her. She felt really tired. Her magic power was starting to grow low. So it was really a good the fight was over.

"Umm... Alright. Please do." She said because she knew if she refused Leila would just ask again. It wasn't that she hated being helped it was more like she felt a little guilty when using stuff that didn't belong to her. She couldn't really grasp how easy or hard it was for Leila to get more if she ran out so it was difficult for Zoey understand. She also looked at the strange lady that Leila called Libra. Though the word "Libra" word sounded familiar to her somehow.

status:

spell:

It was even visible on Zoey, her magical energy was quickly running out. For wizards, their magical power was almost as a second life. If something so important would disappear, it would be pretty bad. So it really was good that they defeated all their enemies by now, as she was slowly approaching that point. At least they weren't that far from the city, she could easily return and rest there once they report back. It was also nice that the girls understood one another, it made their conversations much simpler and easier.

Kneeling down to take a look at that wound, Leila produced that little mysterious product of hers and applied it on her skin once more. The process was the same as before, as the wound wasn't that much bigger. Though there was a fair bit of blood before Zoey's body stopped the bleeding itself. Taking out a snow white handkerchief that she used to removed the bright red liquid. Hopefully the treatment wasn't too painful for her friend, as it was done soon and without any complications.

"Alright Libra, I think you can return. I doubt that there is more of the imps, they leader was defeated too." Acknowledging those words, the dark skinned woman made a small bow and dissipated into a golden light. She probably had plenty of questions about why she was summoned to fight enemies on such low level, but being the quiet type she is, she never asked anything. Well, Leila was sure that the two of them would get to talk soon, in their Celestia.

"We took care of your wounds and of the imps as well. I think our job here is done. So let's head back~" With playful tone once more, the girl would make few smalls hops towards the road they were on when they arrived, urging Zoey to join her with a small wave of her hand. It didn't seem like it, but time flew quickly during these trips and dusk was slowly approaching as well. So the sooner they would report back and be free of this contract, the better!

---

The wound didn't seem to be all to bad. Any longer though and who knew what those little demons would have done to her. Now at least they could go and report back that they defeated those things. It still felt a little weird to fight like this. She wondered if it would get any easier after you did it a lot. For now Zoey couldn't imagine that this is what ones person every day looked like.

"Libra?" Zoey asked with a confused voice. She knew she was called like that. But still she was pretty curious and confused alike over the mysterious woman that appeared out of nothing. She would love to know more, but for some reason now that the fight was over she a little nervous around the woman. It wasn't like shyness, even though it could look like that from another's point of view. Somehow, her presence didn't feel right for Zoey. It wasn't like she was scared or nor did it feel like the woman didn't belonged here. It was more like Zoey somehow got a bad feeling about the woman by just being there. It is quite possible that Libra herself felt something like that too. As it is, this only increased her curiosity of the woman in question. The feeling disappeared with the woman.

"Eh... alright. Let's go!" She said quickly to get a move on. The faster she forgot what the woman made her feel, the better. Since the fight was over and the woman was gone she felt alright again. At least this didn't nothing that happened today seemed to affect her too badly.

Spoiler: