Kaori & Leila: Monster Hunt: Raging Behemoth; A Rank - Private

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Kaori had found Leila's companions to be somewhat amusing, and very different from the average person. The blonde haired one had immediately taken to judging Kaori's body, but her words were left unrewarded as Kaori didn't turn the slightest shade of red, nor did she show any signs of being unsettled. She was sexy and she knew it, but she wasn't so arrogant as to proclaim it to the world and weaponize her looks... well, sometimes she weaponized it, but mostly for messing with people and throwing them off guard and it never went to extremes. "Please, do pardon this one's manners. You may simply call me Golem, for I have no name. A simple traveler and adoptive father to Leila here. It is the utmost pleasure to meet you, lady Lareci." the metal man said, his tone being quite courteous. Kaori bowed to him and said "A pleasure to make your acquaintance Golem. You may not have a name now, but I look forward to learning it when you make your own." in a respectful and soft tome. She understood the concept of not having a true name, and her remedy for that issue was giving yourself a name, or making one through actions. This was the process that gave birth to several legends like the Brute of Fiore, Knight of Death, and Knight of Honor; esteemed warriors from the country's past.

The second one to introduce herself was the one who was oggling Kaori, and interupted Leila's introducing her by saying "Megumi Tireheart! A wandering slime witch of the greatest magnitude! Remember this, Lareci princess... it will be me to discover all the secrets slimes hold! That much I can guarantee~" She seemed quite passionate about the field of study, even though it was a useless field for the most part. Slime could be animated, but their functions were limited to making things slimey, and secreting a very weak acid that only corroded clothes and nothing else... However, Kaori couldn't dismiss her passion as even she could find use for slime, namely making people slip on it for kicks, and gave the girl a smile saying "I wish you great success in your efforts Megumi. Let nothing stand in your way."

Leila had, had her friends go to the caravan for the time being after explaining only the one called 'Golem' was useful in combat. This much let Kaori know that Megumi couldn't even lift a sword or shield, which her build suggested as much. Leila had asked if Kaori knew where all the destruction had happened, and as it turned out, she did. "We'd have to get to the other side of the settlement, where the path leading to the top of the mountain continues." Kaori said calmly and began walking. Leila had taken to explaining her magic "My magic can be used for utility and repair as well, though I am capable of effectively using it against enemy forces without any problems. I'm used to being on the front lines and making sure others don't get hurt if you can work with that at all. There is a chance you might have read about the Gardens of Eden in a book at some point in your life, but in case you haven't... here." she said before growing a raspberry bush seemingly out of nowhere. Kaori, lacking any sense of caution, had pulled one of the berries and eaten it. "Amazing..." she said under her breath, thoroughly astonished at the power. "Not only the world around me, I can also adjust my own body with this power as I see fit. As a result, my body can take a lot of punishment that others would never be able to bear. Don't be afraid to let me take a hit if it means protecting you or anyone else." Leila added, demonstrating this by changing the skin on her arm to a type of bark-ish look that Kaori could only assumed took the same properties as wood. "Even knowing that, I could never 'just' let my allies take a hit. To do so would be a stain on my honor." Kaori replied. While she wasn't a true legal mage, Kaori was the kind of person to jump in a burning building without any protection to save a cat; even though there were firemen perfectly equipped to do the same. She hated letting others put themselves in danger, and her mentality was that there's only enough room for one hero in the group- her.

"You told me you can handle repairing the broken buildings, but... would you mind sharing a little bit about your magic as well? Of course, you don't have to if you don't want to. I'm quite good at improvising so I should be able to avoid getting in your way even if you don't tell me anything." Leila had said. While she said it was okay for Kaori to not share that information, she didn't ask because it was truly okay; she asked because she wanted to know Kaori's magic. "We'll need to get to a less populated area, my magic isn't the kind you use with reckless abandon... it's much too dangerous for that." she stated and began walking at a faster pace to reach the area of town with the least people.

Upon arrival, Kaori looked to the sun to gauge how much time they had left "Ten minutes..." Kaori said under her breath. "My abilities are varied, but mostly localized to my heart and mind." a violet glow would come over Kaori's eyes as well as Leila's body, the woman's hair would begin waving as though she were submerged in water and Leila would lift off the floor. "This isn't magic, but rather a genetic mutation. Other humans normally use ten percent of their brain actively, and the rest used involuntarily; I use twenty percent." Kaori gently lowered Leila to the ground. 'I can also speak into the minds of others, but I can't read their thoughts so it's a one-way line.' she said in the woman's mind. "Using the same set of power I can link two entities, mind and body, so they can understand what the other is going through. I can't use that without a good reason, it's a matter of privacy." Kaori walked over to a house with blood on the floors, and walls that were completely destroyed to give a great view of the three corpses within. She kneeled down and extended her hand to the wreckage and a pulse of energy expanded, showing the structure from before it was destroyed. People were moving around the area, and if any walked to Leila, they would walk through her. "I can view the past of any object or person through a type of reverse clairvoyance, and project that history to the world around me for others to view. Lastly, I can merge the past with the present to restore objects; but not people." Kaori had let the vision fade away, revealing the previously destroyed house was no longer in a state of disrepair; but rather looking like new.

"Those were my mind powers, non magic that I've almost perfected. This is my magic... I'm sorry..." Kaori said and took a breath. The ground below her began glowing a bright white, and Leila would feel her emotions begin to alter... Uncertainty would build up in the woman and mix with sadness. Kaori's shame for attacking her best friend would begin making itself apparent in Leila, followed by guilt for not being able to stop herself. Fear was present, as Kaori didn't know when she'd lose control again. Extreme worry, as her servant and friend was nowhere to be found. Pain... so much pain that Leila would feel her heart imploding would rise, caused by Kaori not knowing how to deal with it all... All of these emotions, Leila would feel at once- just as Kaori did. The ground began fading to a normal color again, and Leila would feel her emotions return to normal. The entire time, even though Kaori was several yards away, Leila would feel as though the girl was standing right next to her, close enough to touch shoulders in fact. "My heart is my magic... I turn my emotions into attacks that far surpass most combat magic, but at the cost of having to keep myself in check so I don't leak emotions all over and effect those around me. I can imbue weapons, create barriers, heal, and deal extreme damage to single targets. Because most mages use their hearts to enhance their spells, I'm also able to use spells that weaken their magic by essentially breaking their hearts. I reserve that for more dangerous enemies though, friend or foe, a person's heart is sacred and I won't alter it without proper cause." Night began falling and Kaori drew her sword, facing the path to the forest and waiting to see if anything would come.

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The enemies had come as expected, directly at sundown which left no time for Kaori to react to Leila's words. The enemy was two massive creatures that were seemingly made of bark, but were completely animated. Seeing them barreling down the path, Kaori only blinked a couple times and said "Well... that's a thing." in a slightly surprised tone. She'd seen many things reanimated, corpses included, but never seen a tree animated to attack; but she had heard stories of tries in the Silent Glaciers doing so, just, not being able to move like they were. The tree monster things were easily fifteen feet tall standing on the trunks they used as front legs, and appeared to be mostly physical based creatures. Kaori let out a breath and lifted her blade. "I'll take the one on the left." she said and immediately vanished.

Kaori reappeared in the air above the enraged forest guardian with her right hand held up above her head. A white circle had formed around it that quickly turned into a five point shuriken that was as big as Kaori was tall. It began spinning rapidly, and Leila would feel the air begin getting hotter and a white flame formed all over the weapon. The Enraged Forest Guardian had approached the first of the undamaged houses and Kaori sent her flaming Heavenly Star at the monstrosity, hitting it in its side and sending it falling to in the direction it was hit, landing on an already destroyed house. Kaori vanished again, reappearing on the ground with another two shuriken just like the one she threw before. Kaori had a deep seated connection with animals, her dragon companion Ikuchi was well, and that bond let her use his abilities; two such abilities allowed him to use her spells. Kaori spun on the tip of one of her feet like a ballerina, throwing the first star and then the second; each hitting the creature with deadly force and lighting the spot it hit on fire. The tree creature had turned over instead of trying to get up and got back on its feet much quicker, turning around and trying to land a punch on Kaori. The attack seemed to land, but Kaori had appeared behind the beast and said "Shii-nee" which was followed by the enraged creature exploding. The flames of her attack turned the creature to ash and marked a victory for Kaori.

Kaori would wait till Leila was done with her fight, but if it had seemed she needed help; Kaori would appear in front her with her hand held out, materializing a barrier to block the incoming attack. Of course, that was only if she needed help; otherwise she would be fighting an honorable one on one fight. Once her fight was over, Kaori would say "Now I can say what I wanted to originally..." and walk over to her. Kaori would look Leila in the eyes with an expression that was confident, but not overbearing. "No matter what you look like, or what you truly are; I see you as human. You're able to think and feel, and you have the ability to understand friendship. I don't care what form you take so long as you maintain those qualities." her tone would be professional, genuine, and strong. She turned to face the path that the enemies had come from and began walking down it. "We should work our way up the path and clear out enemies. We might find who or what's sending them."

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Memory Scene

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It had seemed that they would be fighting spirits again, much like the time Kaori went with Samira to help her find a specific celestial key. For some odd reason, Kaori was drawn to Celestial Mages like moths to a fire, and she didn't even try. She wanted to leave now that she knew she had to kill beings filled with knowledge, but then her mind moved back to her first day of recovery. Just after Samira had vanished, Kaori had leaned against the wall and narrowed her gaze on Kaori as she laid in bed in a what may as well have been a vegetative state. "You know, people normally react when they get bitch slapped." she said, her black eyes seeming the glare down at her weakened self. Still, even when talking to herself she was completely silent... This version of Kaori wasn't like her other ones... she was much more blunt and knew how to get things done. She walked over and grabbed Kaori by her neck and hauled her out of the bed before slamming her againist the wall. "Whats the difference between a king and his horse?" she asked with an irritated tone. Kaori had opened her mouth to reply, but was cut off immediately by her darker self. "I dont mean some kiddy shit like 'one has 4 legs and the other has 2' or 'ones a person and ones an animal.' If their form, ability, and power is exactly the same, then why is it one becomes the king and controls the battle and the other one becomes the horse and carries the king?" Kaori had looked herself in the eyes and said "I..." "Because the horse allows it!" she screamed and threw Kaori to the floor. She walked over and slammed her foot on Kaori's back, ignoring the disting popping sound of a dislocated rib. "I'm getting sick of your shit... you're going to make a decision. Do you want to remain the king in this relationship, or become my horse? Cause I'm not gonna carry dead weight."

Samira was right... Kaori ran away after regaining consciousness because she was afraid. She was afraid that she might attack Samira again. She was afraid that Samira would hate her. She was afraid that the false Samira would come back and begin attacking her again. She was afraid that she would cause more harm to the people in the castle than she already had. She was afraid Lady Ceostra would banish her. She was afraid Ikuchi would only see the face of weakness and failure when he looked at Kaori. She had left Ashley behind to keep her from being hurt, Ikuchi to keep her safe, and Gabriella to keep him from doing abnormally insane things... or, that was the lie she told herself. She didn't want Ashley to find out what she'd done. She looked at Kaori like some kind of hero, only a rank or two below Ikuchi, her savior. If she found out that Kaori had been compromised... she'd likely never view Kaori the same again. Ikuchi was obligated to fight his master, and Kaori had neglected him and his goals for so long... she knew what he was trying to do, but never let him get close enough for it. Gabriella... she had actually left for Ikuchi's sake. They got along, and she would be happier in his presence; she always was. "I don't hear answering..." Kaori said impatiently while turning her foot, grinding the heel further into Kaori's back.

Samira had thought Kaori was fine, that she was moving along and allowed herself to begin recovering only for Kaori to shatter her life by yet another stupid decision. She had stopped eating because she was too stressed to keep food down, she stopped drinking for the same reason. Her dreams were plagued with nightmares, and only allowed an hour or two on the best of days and a few minutes on the worst. Her spirits were left helpless as she didn't dare speak to them. It was her fault they had to fight Aquarius, and Kaori herself and she couldn't stand hearing them not attack her- as if everything was fine and it wasn't. Ikuchi had blamed himself for fighting Kaori, and had begun doing things to help her. Her eyes flew open and became alive, then became fierce and a blast of energy was released behind her, slamming into Kaori and sending the dark bitch flying to the wall. "A simple 'King' would have sufficed..." she said in a pained tone while sitting with her back against the now slightly dented wall. Kaori used her telekinesis to get up, and float to where the wooden box was on the bed, half hanging off from when the dark Kaori began her own intervention. She rushed to open it and took out a small letter that looked less fancy than the others, and had a hibiscus stamped on the envelope in wax.

'Kaori,


I can understand if you hate me for what I did, but I hope you can forgive it with time. I shouldn't have raised my blade to you, but rather, as your servant, supported you and attacked Samira. However, I had to make a conscious decision on how I thought of you and act based on that. You were never afraid of me, and always treated me as a human. You helped me understand humans, and never ceased encouraging me to continue learning about them. You didn't mock my fascination, and even in your heart you showed the same kind of love. However, as much as you'd given to me, I was never able to return to you. You were always in pain, consumed by your past and made vengeance your goal. I wanted to be more than a servant to you, but I could never earn your trust... still, I consider you my dearest of friends, so I made a decision to support that. Samira was the focus of all your adoration, and since you couldn't protect her, I did it in your stead. I did my best, but ultimately I couldn't stop your darkness... I'm sorry.

You're an incredibly strong person Lady Kaori. I know that once you speak with Samira, your heart will ignite and give birth to a new flame to replace the one that was extinguished. This is the kind of human you are... In preparation for your return, I set aside my hatred for your lover, Samira, and ventured to the magic hating kigdom of Pergrande and secured a title of nobility that I transferred to you. I've done the same with Minstrel, and even negotiated a trade agreement between the two while enforcing your rules to their caravans. In the box, you'll find the objects you were looking for as well, a rather strange weapon but I understand why you wanted to keep it from your brother. I lost my honor when I fought you, and forfeited my right to serve under you- so I am now a ronin, a servant without a master. My last wish is that you can be happy with Samira, and that you'll never stop smiling for her. May we never meet, even when the sun rises on my ashes.'~ Ikuchi


Back to Reality

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Kaori opened her eyes and let out a breath of air. There was still the matter of finding Ikuchi, which was something she may be able to do if she finds the spirit controlling these ones. Leila had said she was right behind her, and Kaori shot off towards the path with her sword fully sheathed. Creatures began rising from the ground that Kaori could identify as being the kind of spirits that were partially undead, specters. She held her hand out, forming a naginata in it which could imply that she was using a requip spell since she used magic to form the weapon. The weapon shone with white energy and gave off the same kind of magical presence that a Celestial Spirit would give off... except it was a weapon. The blade had intricate markings engraced on the broad side of the blade that were a language that had been dead for millions of years, predating human language... predating humans entirely. She vanished and reappeared in front the first specter and slammed the weapon on the ground, releasing a large shock wave that sent the creature flying back while vanishing back to wherever it came from. She would continue moving up the mountain while cutting any enemy that got in her way down to size, not stopping until she had reached a set of stairs several minutes later where she'd wait for Leila. At that point, she would tell Leila that she was having her take the front- meaning she'd be leading them up the stairs and deciding their path from there on.


(OOC: Sorry for the long wait time.)

Kaori had let Leila take the lead on this one to see her resolve, and noticed one of her spirits had stayed behind. Kaori got a bad vibe from the spirit, not so much the kind you got while walking down a dark alley lined with thugs, but more along the lines of the feeling she got around Kali, one of her friend's spirits that was the celestial incarnation of another dimension's deity belonging to a multi-deity religion. Leila was slower than Kaori by a fair margin, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing, it just means her combat abilities lay elsewhere. With Samira it was the same, she was immaculately slow on while moving, but she made up for that with her spirits and her lightning fast thinking. Up ahead was a large group of enemies numbering nineteen that Leila was about to request some help with, but as though he were rehearsing his entrance, Golem the nameless warrior had arrived and taken out quite a few.

They were in a part of the mountain that looked like a large shrine, it measured fifty yards in diameter but from afar didn't even look like anything more than part of the mountainside. Part of the mountain was cut out to make room for the area, and out of the walls of the mountain three of the large creatures from earlier had come out. Blocking the path ahead was the remnants of the nineteen that Leila's companion had taken down, and blocking the path leading back down was ten ghosts. The shrine had the three tree spirits getting ready to charge, and the only other option was off the side of the cliff. 'Do it.' the deep voice echoed in Kaori's mind. "You sure? Technically this is one of your days off." Kaori said out loud, seeming to be speaking to no-one since not a single person had mentioned any form of working schedule. 'I finished cooking dinner, just waiting on Charlotte to get back. This can burn some time, lemme have two of the big ones.' the voice echoed. Kaori gave a gentle smile "Suit yourself, over achiever." she said with a light chuckle. "Leila, I've got the big guys- I trust you can handle the rest." she declared. It was a question 'can you handle them' no, Kaori declared that Leila could handle them, she had faith in the girl and her spirits. Kaori began charging the beasts and threw her naginata in the direction of two of them. "Open!" she shouted, the first part of a chant that Leila should know all too well... "Gate of Beasts, Mammoth!" three black magic circles appeared on the weapon, the first at the tip, the second in the middle, and the last at the very end. They all spun while the first and last moved to meet the middle, seeming to consume the naginata before expanding and a massive hulk of a man with a thick coat of fur on his back, two mammoth tusks sticking out from under it. He held an ethereal hammer in his hand and using his fist, punched the first tree monster in the face. This one was charging forward, so when Mammoth's fist stopped it, the creature flipped over mammoth from inertia. The second creature wasn't far behind, and Mammoth hit the bottom of its face with the hammer, releasing a shock wave that sent it flying to the roof of the shrine where it bounced off and returned to the ground to get another bashing on the head with the ethereal weapon. The one that flipped got back on its feet and tried crushing Mammoth under its hand, but the man only grabbed the tree limb and flipped it back on its side before tearing the limb off and beating the beast with it, ending the fight.

While that was going on, Kaori had turned from one Kaori into ten Kaoris and charged the third enemy. All of her variants had the same magic as Kaori, and all ten had called their shirofune out while imbuing the swords with magic and changing the element of it to Holy Flames. They all struke the creature one by one while it flailed around trying to swat the annoying little flies, and once all of them had a Shirofune inside it, they all said 'Shii nee' which was the Midi (Japanese) word for 'Die' and the creature exploded brilliantly. Ash rained down as the remnants of the creature were incinerated down to the last twig, and the nine extra Kaori's all vanished and looked to see how Leila was faring. Upon confirming that the enemies had all been disposed of, even helping Leila finish them off if needed, Kaori would hear something moving behind her. The roaring of a bear that was bigger than the tree monsters was heard before Mammoth moved behind her and stopped a paw as big as Kaori herself from hammering her. He was preparing to attack when Kaori shouted "Stop!" causing Mammoth to stand down. The sight of her stopping the attack made the bear retract his paw and stare at Kaori. "Leila, don't attack. This is the one we needed to talk with." Kaori would say in a calm voice. The bear seemed to understand her as its eyes narrowed and it sat on its hind legs out of intrigue.

Kaori had stood in front he great bear and looked at it with a stoic expression. She took a step forward and paused as it began snarling at her, end then resumed at a slower pace. Mammoth had stood down as asked, but stayed close enough to smash the bear's face in if it tried to hurt his wizard. Kaori had managed to get a few feet from it and she extended her bare hand to the spirit, to which he replied by placing the tip of one of his claws in it. Humans greeted each other by shaking hands, and bears would occasionally touch paws, but it was a rare action with no known significance. The bear did this simply out of a desire to see what would happen.

Energy began pooling around Kaori and the bear, white strands swimming around Kaori like fish in an aquarium and green ones around the spirit. Kaori closed her eyes and let herself feel the bear's heart, feeling the pain of betrayal he felt, and the bear feeling the lack of knowledge that Kaori had. He felt that Kaori was a very kind person who had cruel tendencies, killed because she had to, and favored knowledge and understanding over displays of brute force. He could feel that she wasn't from the area and knew little of his troubles, and that she wanted to understand them to find out why he was attacking the village below. Kaori felt that he was angry, and hurt but didn't hate humanity. The two of them had an understanding of each other, and the strands around them had both vanished. Kaori put her hand down and the bear let out a sad sound. "Can you tell us why you're sending the other spirits to attack the people below?" Kaori asked, to which the bear had gotten up to stand on all fours. He tapped his finger on the rocky ground to sprout a trail of flowers leading up the mountain... all the way to the top. He vanished from sight, giving no time for Kaori to request a ride. Kaori had went to Leila and said "Sorry I didn't tell you about them, but I can also summon celestial spirits. Don't confuse me for a Celestial Wizard though, I only have five spirits and don't rely on them nearly as much as true celestial wizards."

Kaori then said "Snoop Genie" and a black man with dreads and some strange clothing showed up. "Ey, what it do?" he asked in his usually cheerful tone. "Can you get us to the top of this mountain?" Kaori asked calmly, as though summoning beings from other dimensions that clearly broke the fourth wall that she knew nothing of was a normal thing. The great and mystical snoop genie walked to the path and looked up the mountain. "Oh damn, das a long way up. That's cool, I got-chu baby. BOOM!" the words 'smoke weed everyday' was heard being sung over the winds as his spell was cast and the two mages and their companions would arrive at the top of the mountain. "Thanks, that's all for now." Kaori said, to which Snoop Replied "So you ain't gonna tell me bout dat giant ass bear?" "Stick around and watch." Kaori answered and approached the bear. The bear lead them over to a shrine that was basically a circular rock on top of several pillars- a rock table. The rock on top was cracked in half... which would explain why he was pissed off. "You wanna repair this, or should I?" Kaori asked Leila.

The ending to the mission left a slightly sour taste in Kaori's mind as she felt as though she'd offended the summoner somehow. She had returned the shrine to its former glory to satisfy the nature spirit, but she would have rpeferred to see the girl do it, even if the shrine looked different... Nature changes, that's just how it works and the new shrine would have likely looked beautiful. Leila would get a small, rectangular box containing an envelope and a single coin of sorts. It was delivered by Kaori's lava hawk who only stuck around long enough to leave the box with whoever was driving the carriage, and then leave. The coin was made of bloodwood, a rare and exotic wood made from a tree that when cut, seemed to bleed because of the crimson sap inside. It was polished to a shine to bring out the beauty of the wood, and inside it was pure gold that formed the outline for a hibiscus. The letter had Leila's name on it, and it was sealed with a wax seal that had a hibiscus stamped into it.

'Leila,

When we last spoke, you left before I could say anything and I could tell you were troubled by something. Understand that you are, by all means, anything you wish to be. You may call yourself a celestial wizard if your definition of one matches, but mine does not. I never judge others based on my grading scale for myself, otherwise I'd have very few allies. I'm not so 'amazing' as you think I am. Many of my spells explode on me, or suck out more magic than they should... My magic is only capable of killing, and hurting those around me and yours can be used to help. I'm able to restore old things, but I cannot make anything new. I didn't tell you about my spirits because I didn't anticipate needing them, not because a lack of trust.

If we ever meet again, I look forward to seeing how much you, Golem, and Megumi have grown. I anticipate seeing your wonderous magic in the works, and finding out if Golem had even made a name for himself. I'd also like to see Megumi's magic, even if it's perceived as useless. As far as I can tell, both of you are just as good as I am, even better, when it comes to magic. I... admittedly, am still learning how to control it. Till next time,

Kaori Lareci
Saint of Passion'