Freeing Fairies

Masha wasn't sure how to feel as she walked through the city. The last time she had been here... Masha didn't want to think about it. She had met Nyx here but it didn't redeem the other things that had happened in this city. Spotting an alleyway, Masha slipped off the main road. There was time for a little fun. Nyx was supposed to meet her somewhere in this city. There was some job her old friend wanted to do together.

The man that walked down the alley was unlucky. He wasn't attractive, something she would have to deal with, but his clothing screamed for attention. Probably some kind of drug dealer. Masha let a heated smile touch her lips as she stepped out of the shadows. His eyes latched onto her immediately, roving up and down her form. A slow heat began to build within Masha as she got closer to the man. She lived for this. The man screamed for a long time. When Masha exited the alley, her hands were soaked in his blood. It had a nice feeling to it. If only the man had lived somewhere else. He would have survived. Being back in this town drew something ugly up from Masha's soul.

She could look for Nyx now. The turbulence in her soul had been calmed. A frown crossed her beautiful features when Masha looked at her hands. She couldn't walk around town without drawing attention so long as her hands were bloody. Masha decided it wasn't important. They wouldn't be doing anything in town. She hoped. If they ended up in town, Masha would have to find a way to clean her hands. As it was, Masha would pretend they were elaborate gloves to get to the edge of the city.

No one stopped her on the way to the edge of the city. They either ignored her or avoided her. Neither was particularly pleasing to Masha. She wanted to be the center of attention. A fight would be more entertaining than this boring stroll. "Nyx! Where are you? You called me back to this godforsaken city!" Masha began calling. A few people turned to her then quickly hurried away. Maybe they would bring the authorities. Masha clapped her hands, splashing blood onto the street. That would be great fun.

"Nyx! You know I hate this city and I'm sure I told you why a thousand times! Get out here already or I'm returning to the guild. Then I'll be cross with you cause I need the jewels!" Masha called out as she reached the end of the buildings. The high from the kill was already being swept away by the memories of this place. She wanted to burn it all to the ground. Her lack of power was the only thing keeping that from happening. Masha scowled at the thought. Her good mood was gone. Nyx needed to appear now. Otherwise, Masha wasn't sure what would happen.

Word Count: 496

340 words.
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The adjustment recently for Nyx was immense, not only had her ideologically changed drastically in the last few, not only had been she weakened for some time but now her power had skyrocketed compared to what she was used to. All of a sudden? She had to relearn controlling her psychic based abilities, figure out how to properly make use of them instead of just suppressing them as she once had, there was no way they would stay down now that she was spiritual. On top of everything? Savage Skull was also her responsibility, it was a new world she had never really expected to be within during her life, but this wasn't her life anymore it was her afterlife and she had to settle into this ride quick because she was the only one with the time to waste.

Materializing was no easy task still even though she could maintain it for extreme stretches of time now. Afterward? She would be too exhausted to do anything for several hours to a few days, she put off nearly fully establishing herself in the material plane whenever she could. A transparent hand would touch Masha's shoulder as the form of Nyx became visible growing up from it, yet it was still so easy to see right through her. "You know it's not easy for me to maintain like this yet, I had to wait." especially since her recon had been done materialized, occupying this energy based form was starting to become somewhat of a strain, but she'd have to make deal for now.

"Our objective is actually closer to the edge of the city than anything, a compound guarded by almost dog-like creatures which I'm sure are actually minor shifters, alongside a few thugs, Lux managed to get inside but I haven't followed him yet" it was better the have him inside their objective as back up in case they got into trouble, plus she was currently strong enough to throw some punches in this form if she really found the need to.

Masha immediately felt bad about her annoyance with Nyx. She had forgotten how hard it was for Nyx at the moment. Her arms came up and she tried to hug her oldest friend. Ironic really how her oldest friend was younger than her. "I'm sorry. You know I don't like this city. Bad memories and all." Masha was tight lipped about the various things that had been done to her. Yet it was impossible to hide from Nyx that every bad piece of her past resided in this city since Nyx had been the one to find her.

Masha stepped away from Nyx. "It's a good thing we're going outside town." She displayed her bloody hands. "I may have lost my temper a bit and slaughtered some guy. Shouldn't take too long for people to find the body." Masha strode past her guild master with confident strides. Shifters sounded like fun. She had never had a shifter before.

It took the mage a little while to realize she had no idea where she was going. "Uh Nyx? You wanna lead the way? I'm not sure where this camp is." Color rose in her cheeks. It was something she hated but her body tended to blush easily. It made her seem weaker or more feminine or some other asinine reason. Her hands tightened into fists. What those madmen had done to her body would stay with her forever. There was no way to return her to whatever she had been.

To take her mind off of it, Masha asked about Lux. "Will Lux be alright, Nyx? Won't the shifters sense him or smell him somehow?" She felt a special connection to the little lamp creature. Perhaps because he had been the first thing to truly make her feel safe. She smiled remembering the first time she had ever held Lux in her arms. It had been one of the darkest moments of her life when hope had been cruelly snatched away. Of course the Writer could also screw with Lux and somehow make him become noticeable to their enemies. Then Lux might be taken away from her as well. The smile slipped off her face.

I can only control you, Masha. And maybe a few other things. Lux is owned by someone else. The Writer tried to explain gently. Masha didn't believe him. Her screwed up life was all his fault. He couldn't give her a break even when she really needed one. The Writer sighed heavily. She would never believe him. He couldn't quite blame her however. Her backstory was among the worst he had ever given his characters.

"Why are we attacking this compound, Nyx?" Masha wondered idly. "Wouldn't it be easier to simply destroy the whole thing? Gather the guild for an all-out attack?" She wasn't sure if that was even possible but it would be entertaining to watch. Let the compound burn and the city could join it. No one left alive. A scorched earth the only evidence of their passing. Masha couldn't suppress her bloodthirsty grin. It would be better to get her out of this city as fast as possible. There was no telling how quickly she would deteriorate towards a wanton creature of destruction. Revenge consumed her rationale the longer they were here.

Word Count: 550
Total: 1,046

992 words of 6,000 words.
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It was easy to forget how much of a strain was on the ghost at the moment, after all, every day her aura grew more powerful as she recovered. However, many failed to realize a good deal of her recovered strength went towards maintaining and improving the barrier around their home in the between. Nyx prioritized ensuring the safety of her guild over being powerful, thus a good deal of her own strength was not available to her, at least not in the sense where she could throw it around freely. Carefully planning when to use her strength was an important part of maintaining her duties while she recovered and grew more powerful, which was why she took many jobs with partners these days. Having other people to perform so she could materialize later, was beneficial.

"If he was weak enough to not be on guard and attempt self-defense, his death is his own fault, I don't frown on murder, after-all I do worship the blood god." most times she didn't openly bring up Chaoris, she wasn't sure if he still counted her as a follower after being defeated by Fluffy for long enough to let everything transpire. However, she suspected Masha may have watched her after the time projection that had recruited the other girl into the guild, she very well could have seen. At the end of the day? Nyx would always follow Chaoris after all the honorable god was an important part of her own spiral into the dark guild master she now was, the one who taught her it was alright to relish the blood of another so long as she did so honorably. That man was the reason she had not turned into a monster herself.

The guild master smiled slightly, walking ahead of Masha when the red-haired one realize she hadn't a clue where the compound was. "It's a risk yes, but we need him to be able to guide us through the compound swiftly once we arrive." Plus the head of this all was scum in her opinion, he wouldn't notice Lux, too busy with his own ego and greed to realize any threat existed. "I may enjoy when the river runs red. However," the brown-haired girl stopped herself at the edge of the location, lifting her hand into the air, a glowing creature around four inches tall landed upon her extended limb, at a closer look it was humanoid and had elegant magical wings. "Masha, meet the fairy species." the tiny one on her hand waved over at the large busted woman. "A mythical species, the wings of them are a very potent extremely purified form of magic." already a coating of light blue dust was covering the ghost's hand. "This location is the center of an operation selling stolen fairy wings, lying to the public about how they were obtained, cowards." bouncing her hand the fairy flew up revealing numerous other glowing fairies in the forest around them.

"I made this mission, our fight is with the cowards, not the fairies trapped within the walls, they will be set free when we are done." which explained why she wasn't just going to blow up the building, light it aflame and watch it burn. Even if she followed a god who would be pleased by that, she still had her own goals, and slaughtering mythical creatures being abused by humans went directly against that, while this chosen path kept everyone pleased. For the moment, the female waited to see Masha's response, ready to spring into action once she was sure her ally realized they were going to slowly kill everything without raising an alarm to prevent the death of more fairies. If they raised the alarm the true target would simply rip as many wings as he could to save stock then flee, she didn't want to have to chase such a coward.

Masha didn't mention her victim had put up some form of self defense. It simply hadn't been enough to stop her claws. She rubbed her hands together slowly. The feeling of slicing through his flesh had been divine. Masha had muffled his screams for stealth sake but she had known he was calling out for his wife. It would have been sweeter to murder him in front of her. Simply to see what she would have done. Masha knew her eyes had gone cold, all emotion draining from them. She couldn't bring herself to care. This city needed to burn.

Nyx's words smoothed away Masha's anxiety. Clearly the guild master was confident enough in Lux's abilities to have sent him in. Or she had other information that made her confident Lux would be all right. Masha tried not to question the woman who had saved her from a terrible fate. Didn't mean she wouldn't but that Masha placed much of her trust in Nyx. Masha very nearly fell over when Nyx stopped. She had been preparing to rush past Nyx as the location they were attempting to infiltrate was just ahead. At least Masha assumed from the look of it. Turning to see why the ghost mage stopped, Masha was entranced by the tiny creature on Nyx's arm. She waved back to the small creature, a smile growing upon her face.

Masha listened carefully to Nyx's explanation of their mission. A dark fury began to fill the busty mage. "They abuse these wonderful creatures? The river shall run red indeed. Do we have a plan of attack? Or is the plan to simply attack?" It took a short while for it to sink in that a straight attack wouldn't be the smartest. It would be the surest way for every single fairy within the walls to be slaughtered. Perhaps that was why Nyx had brought her along. She was adept at infiltration. Very nearly built for it as it happened. She looked down at her attire. It was functional. Light red pants, short sleeve button up white shirt, combat boots and a black coat. Not quite what one wanted when trying to seduce their way in to the compound.

Masha began shimmying out of her coat. "I can get in. Probably. The shifters will be my only problem. They may smell my intentions but I can get by any man or woman. It shouldn't be too hard to infiltrate the compound. Shall I aim for the captain? Or leave him for you?" She looked at her shirt, then her bloody hands. Blood would not come out of her shirt. Masha knelt by the river and began washing the blood off of her hands. "I take it you'll be enter from a different direction? It'll be harder to infiltrate if you are with me. Kinda hard to ignore a ghost girl." Masha shot a grin over her shoulder. The blood was finally off her hands. The shirt joined her coat on the ground. It left Masha in only a red silk bra framed in black lace. A great expanse of creamy white skin was now exposed to the world. They would have a hard time ignoring her now. Masha pulled her black coat back on.

"How do I look?" Masha asked doing a little twirl. "It isn't my best outfit but it should do for getting into this place." Masha did a little pose when she faced Nyx once again. Her left hand went behind her head, her right leg came up at the knee and she tilted her head. She even threw a little wink to be cheeky. The guards wouldn't be resisting her. Her body was built for sin and seduction. Waving to Nyx, Masha hurried around to the entrance of the compound.

"Halt! Leave now or..." The guard's words caught in his throat as Masha turned. She dropped the coat from her shoulders, treating it like a shawl. Her voice took on a certain twang as she spoke. "Well lookie here what I found! Some real men who deserve a treat. And lucky you, I happen to enjoy being such a treat." A seductive smile spread slowly upon her lips, Masha looking up through her eyelashes. The evident bulges in the guards pants made it obvious her facade was working. Underneath her tempting mask, Masha shivered. She did not want their hands upon her body. She didn't want to really be near them period. For the fairies, Masha steeled herself. For the fairies, she forced herself ever closer.

Word Count: 761
Total: 1,807

1,841 of 6,000
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Even if Masha had mentioned that the slaughtered had attempted self-defense? Nyx would still attribute the man's death to his own weakness instead of anything else, one's strength was what determined who survived, even more so these days she was nearly utterly convinced of this! The weak perished at the hands of the strong, and thus the world grew stronger. While most people had motivations for going into battle, the girl only had motivation when it came to not instantly engaging when she fought freed as she was, Nyx fought for the sake of proving her own strength, especially lately. How else was she ever supposed to face Chaoris again if she couldn't prove herself still strong enough to stand within his worshippers, after having fallen to her own inner demons come to life the way she had.

Abuse, that was an interesting way to put it, often times these days the guildmaster passed over the concept. Something like this? Instantly fell straight into the realm of cowardice that went against the ideals set by him, something so large picking on something that would never be a good fight, there was no thrill and they left the fairies to die when they were done, did nothing on their own strength. "The River Shall Be Made Of The Cowards Blood!" the normally gentle and passive ghost, suddenly had this sickening smile across her face, her eyes slightly wider then normal, as if she was in an adrenaline rush, but she couldn't be due to her life state. At the word stated by her guildmate, some switch seemed to flick in the ghost, and her logic seemed to be slipping out the window with a small laugh. Masha's statements had reminded her of the moments fighting beside her god, how when they finished everywhere she looked seemed to be a sea of blood, how great it felt to prove herself so thoroughly against cowards who thought to use numbers to oppose true strength. Was she going mad? Honestly, she could already be insane, but she had been losing her mind since the day she met him, and Nyx cared not to stop that darkening of her soul.

Plan? Did she need a plan? What good was a- She needed a plan, the girl could already see the image of all that blood, if she didn't have a plan she would indeed just charge right through the front door and start ripping limbs off people. "I'm going to take his skull, he's mine, I'm going to take his skull." as opposed to the calm rational guild master Masha was normally faced with, the ghost now seemed wild, shaking her head she breathed trying to clear her head to make a proper plan, ghost she just wanted to take his head, that wasn't so wrong was it? Unhindered by Fluffy the part of her influenced by the worship of the blood god, was much harder to keep in check, and it was starting to show, triggered only by memory. "I'll destroy the shifter's, as you work through the compound, when we meet up with Lux we'll be close to the fairies, and the floor shall become nothing more than a sea of blood! Make sure you get the fairies out." because all she really wanted now was to feel the blood run over her spiritual hands, all because of very potent memories triggered by mention of a river running red.

"I'll see you inside, none shall live." she vanished as she did not intend to sneak up to the shifters while visible, she'd only materialize again once she was upon the vile creatures that needed to take the visage of another to do anything useful.

Shortly beyond where Masha was working on eliminating the human guards via one means or another? Nyx approached the tethered shifter guards, the hounds rising unsettled as they were unable to see her but could tell something was there. Honestly? The demise of them was swift, in spite of being a ghost, once she materialized her body was powerful, often times she gave up use of her psychic abilities and her torturous flames, simply to feel blood. Of course, she also didn't actually have the strength to make excessive use of her magic, but that was no one's business. Two of the hounds didn't even get to lay eyes on her as she grabbed them letting her hands pierce into their scruffs, yanking them from the ground and then slamming them back into it as she landed a foot in each of their chests, once they were down, her fists only had to collide with them two or three more times before their heads were entirely bashed in and they lay dead. Any remaining shifters fell to her nearly as easily, blood seeping into the ground as she kicked, punched, scratched or just generally went far as ripping entire limbs from their bodies.

Once Masha finished with the guards? She would find Nyx sitting with Lux, awaiting her, seemingly cleaning one of the shifter skulls to entertain herself.

Masha got inside the compound with relative ease. A few winks, a couple touches, using the things she had learned under Erebus, Masha opened all the doors she needed. The men fell over themselves to let her in. She chuckled softly to herself. Upon entering the compound, Masha did her best not to gasp. There were fairy corpses laying out in the open. Silvery blood dripped down their backs from where their wings had been torn out. Masha had thought the fairies were released to die slowly. Apparently that wasn't quite true. She turned her head away to avoid looking at the corpses. There were more guards than she had originally thought there would be. They littered the compound. A few appeared from behind various buildings, making Masha think there were even more she couldn't see. It would take a little more finesse than she had originally planned for. There was however, a chance to draw out a little information from them if she played her cards right. A little torture could go a long way. The smile on her face turned absolutely evil.

By taking the guards into different areas of the compound for their 'special treat', Masha was able to play with them. What fun! Jealousy and Spite, her knives, made peeling the skin off their bones quite enjoyable. She got the information out of them usually before she had gotten very far. Only the skin off their face and hands was gone. She had hoped they would get a little further. Their screams tended to draw other guards. Not too many at a time but enough to force Masha to pause for a little while. She would drive her fist into their stomachs, knocking them out from the force of the blow or straight up breaking their necks. Then the torture would begin up again. Masha found herself having quite a lot of fun. She peeled skin, broke bones, danced around the corpses of her enemies. All the while she had a small satisfied smile upon her face. The town may not be burning but this gave her enough pleasure to douse that disappointment.

Her body was nearly covered in blood by the time she reached Nyx. Her tongue darted out to clean off her blades. It wasn't nessacery but it was more fun then cleaning them the usual way. They had to be clean before she could sheathe them. She had also found something out.   "We've got a little bit of trouble, Nyxie. Turns out this compound has a transport system to it. Dead fairies are transported out of here on one transport and new ones are pulled in. A whole neat little operation in all." Her voice was chipper, full of mirth which it hadn't been before they entered the compound. She sheathed her blades. What did her clothes look like? Masha looked down at the idle thought. A pout began to form on her features. Blood was impossible to get out and it was uncomfortable on the skin once it dried.

Masha sat down next to Nyx. Washing up could wait. The fairies were a little more important than her fashion choices or comfort. "How shall we do this, guild master?" She curled an arm around Lux. He made her cold body feel so warm, a warmth that made happiness spread through her belly. "I didn't spot any fairies on the way here either. Maybe there's an underground cavern or hidden cages somewhere." Masha peered over at her guild master. She couldn't tell what was going through Nyx's head. Masha hadn't wanted to comment on her behavior prior to entering the compound. She had been steeling herself against her plan to enter the compound. Now it seemed a little worrying.

Word Count: 627
Total: 2,234

2,779 of 6,000 words
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Small transparent hands shifted through notably organic goop and gunk, subtle squish sounds audible as she peeled back different substances and layers. The guild master sat with her materialized back against a slate grey wall, tiny finger's working intricately to tear away flesh and muscle alike as Masha worked her way through things like guards. While her guildmate slowly tortured the living, the master took an intense satisfaction in the squish of barely begun decomposition beneath her palm as she used that part of her hand to push more material away from the bone she was slowly unearthing. The corpse she was working on? Was so fresh that for a few heartbeats the blood still dripped freely before it became congealed, she clearly hadn't even waited for the last breath before taking the head.

When Masha found Nyx the ghost would still be working on her task, having become immersed in the goal, several burnt bodies lying nearby of people who apparently had tried to interrupt her, it wasn't her 'normal' style so to speak. On average? Nyx ended fights barely bloodied, and jobs were done with quick precision, this time she was sitting in the middle of the job and blood coated her hands, soaked against her materialized uniform and dripped down her legs, a few splashes covering her cheeks and what could almost be called an innocent content smile on her face. Masha was drenched, but the grin and licking of blades clearly betrayed the fact she knew the actions could be 'justly' considered bad by the large portion of society. Nyx on the other hand, her expression acted as if this was normal, no different from reading a book or something, standing up happily upon her partner meeting up with her, holding the partially stripped skull to her chest like it was something precious.

"You found it like I said to, right Lux, the holding section?" the guild master cooed the comment, patting the cap of her living flames enclosure, the creature waving one of his arms in affirmation, pointing down one of the hallways. The ghost smiled, laughing gleefully as she turned on her heel "Good boy, then just give directions while you sit there." she wasn't going to make Masha let go of the lantern early, her guildmate could hold Lux until they had to fight again. With those objectives and details set, the blue flame kept pointing down different hallways and staircases as they ventured deeper into the compound. At points, it easily seemed as if hours had slipped by even if it was actually unlikely it had actually been that long, the steady drip of blood off their bodies being an entirely unreliable timekeeper.

One room was filled with sliver blood, the walls splattered, the tables practically pouring it off them, several men within the walls of it. Lux had led them directly to the heart of the operation, the room where fairies were kept, and the room where most of them lost what kept them alive before they were thrown away somewhere else like trash. "Remember What I Said." her voice faded off at the end, rage boiling beneath her veins as she noticed the cages, the ropes, the cowardly advantage the humans had placed themselves at in this case. Nyx swayed backward and stumbled back a few steps as the men dropped the faries they were working on and took up arms closing in on the group of them, tightening her grip on the skull as she saw her vision redden, trying to regain her composure. When she had shared with the forming Fluffy, her divine allegiance had not been able to influence her as strongly, she wasn't used to the rush of anger whenever she saw anything cowardly as this. Nyx was used to being angry she had lived her human life enraged at everything, but this anger was different it was not driven by her own motives nor her own emotions, it was just pure anger the likes of which she was not used to feeling.

All of their opponents were armed. It was not the smartest choice, but as the dripping skull dropped from her hands down to the floor with both a squish and a clunk? Nyx ran right ahead, no attempt to come at someone from the side, or trip anyone from below, nope, she went right for the first guy in the crowd, right for his face with her fist. Directly following her first hit? The ghost gave no relief, one leg came up to knee her opponent in the stomach and as that leg fell down her other one came up to hit him in the side her palm joining that foot sending the male flying back against a wall, her other hand now gripping the sword she had stolen from her opponent during their fight. "It's time for your blood to stain these walls, cowards." she laughed as her arm moved to slash the sword broadly at her opponents, messily clearly not experienced wielding a weapon but enjoying it none the less when red ran onto the blade from several opponents who had not been able to dodge her slash in time.

While the ghost busied herself ending the life of the humans in the messiest or most physical ways possible with her skills? Lux remained in Masha's arms, throwing blue fireballs when someone would get too close to the redhead, not bothering to fly off and help Nyx, connected to the source of his life enough to know she was slowly losing mind of anything expect the blood and fight.

Masha didn't find anything Nyx was doing strange. Since her entrance into Savage Skull, blood and violence had surrounded her. A couple corpses was a normal morning in her book. Now if she hadn't ruined her clothing, she would be a lot happier. It was hard to find things that made her look nice. Especially with her chest being so damn big. Masha sighed, hugging Lux close. At Nyx's words, Masha let an evil grin slip free. No wonder she hadn't been able to find any fairies. They were in a holding area. She followed Lux's instructions quite willingly.

Following Lux turned out to be the easy part. Seeing what the men had done and were doing to the fairies, less so. Masha held herself back as Nyx flew into a rage. She had never seen her friend act like this. A tendril of fear coiled within her breast. Would Nyx even recognize her when she was done with the men? It was hard to tell. When Lux threw fireballs, Masha jumped nearly dropping her precious lamp. Her arms tightened around him once again. Her gaze lifted back to the destructive whirlwind Nyx had become. She couldn't stay here. Not if Nyx would become a monster. There was a line for Masha. She had been raised by monsters for the first fifteen years of her life. Watching her friend become consumed by blood and violence wasn't something she could do.

Masha let go of Lux so he could protect his master and turned away from the carnage. A single tear wiped a trail through the blood on her face. The redhead moved through the halls as quickly as she could, looking for an office of some sort. None of the buildings above had had documents on the transport system. She hoped there would be some documents down here somewhere. A great white sign caught her attention as Masha dashed through the halls. She turned. Some idiot had put a blazing sign above the office. She went straight for it.

Her fist proved to be enough of a skeleton key for the locked door. It swung open to reveal an empty room. The leader of the operation wasn't here. Damn. Masha scowled before scouting the room. It was spartan. A small wooden desk, bare walls and two bookshelves behind the desk. There was a drawer in the desk  yet there weren't any documents in it. Her fist smashed the wood to pieces. Where would they have hidden important documentation? The leader of this fairy killing machine had to be with the transports. He probably grabbed fairies himself just to torture the little creatures. Masha upended the desk. She tore apart the bookshelves and threw the pieces into the walls. Leaving behind that disaster, Masha headed back to where she had left Nyx.

She hoped her friend had calmed down by now. Masha wasn't sure she could raise a hand against Nyx even if Nyx hadn't been magically stronger than her. Nyx simply meant to much to her. Her first friend, well her only friend, couldn't possibly turn on her. Nyx had saved her once. Masha tried to battle the doubt in her mind. Nyx would be fine. This was a side effect of something. It would fade. Masha dreaded what she would find as she neared the room. Her frantic pace ground to a halt. Could she even face this? Masha stood in the center of the hallway unable to take another step. She didn't want to face the possibility of Nyx turning on her. "Nyx?" Masha called in a small voice. "Are you all finished in there?"

Word Count: 608
Total: 2,842

4,046 words of 6,000 words
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She was surrounded by opponents in seconds, everyone in the room clearly more concerned with rushing the 'insane' girl who had gotten her hands on a bladed weapon. "Cowards!" the word came out in a shout before she was even thinking about it, the rush washing over her head as she gripped the blade tightly swinging it upward at someone sharply cutting through their arm and watching the blood spray from the horrid wound she had inflicted. Internally? She noted that it was much more satisfying to tear the arm off with her own bare hands, but the weapon did it more efficiently. After so long as an animal, she was used to feeling the bones crack beneath her, the blade robbed her of this, but for the moment this was alright, she had cowards teaming up on her after all. "Prideless cowards, relying on numbers in an attempt to defeat an honorable opponent who came at you head on!" her blade came down upon another mans head cutting through it halfway and causing her trouble in pulling the blade out.

A spear thrust forward, the guild master giving up a pained sound as the weapon embedded itself into her arm, the repayment of her pain was her blade stabbing right into the man's chest. In front of her, slowly dying, the man clutched the sword. Nyx leaped up, yanking the spear from her shoulder as she stood upon the blade protruding from the slowly forming corpse, tossing the weapon she held into the chest of another and leaping off to bring her foot down atop someone's head and kick him back onto something sharp impaling him with the force of it. Even with the coward's advantage of numbers? It was clear her opponents were slowly being cut through with no real hope of defeating her. Fighting normally made her feel more alive, but this time it was so much stronger then it used to be, no pain traveling from her wound as she tore an arm from one of the men and used it to slap another across the face, tossing the limb to the side landing her powerful foot in the center of someone's chest, violently causing that area to cave in as they coughed up blood. Someone rushed the girl swinging some hammer down towards her, but she caught that in her hand, easily proving stronger as she swung her fist into his shoulder causing him to drop the weapon onto himself, denting half of his face beneath it blood flying from them as their breathing choked itself and they lie dead.

Masha knew the woman rather well, but the brunette was currently in a state never witnessed by the other girl before. Prior to these moments? Only one person had ever had the chance to see her so enraged and that was Chaoris who expected it to happen anyways. Apart from his influence? She was normally very calm and precise, but when she came under her god's influence the girl became frenzied and terrifying because she still struck precisely in spite of her objective-seeming to change. Suddenly instead of trying to figure out the quickest, cleanest or most silent way to do something, the female found the best way to make blood flow, everyone died and the room became awash in bright crimson. "Did you really think the ideals of cowards could win against-" she stopped herself short. Could she call herself a follower of the blood god when she didn't know if he recognized her as one of his anymore? Briefly, the female gripped her hands at her side and recalled the way he had spoken back when they slaughtered with Lucie, the scene replaying in front of her eyes as one of her few remaining opponents pinned her. Breathing, she realized, he didn't always care where the blood came from, even if she may not be able to stand by his side again yet, she could still serve and appease the god! Transparent hands rose as the man above her raised his sword, a trance-like appearance in her muddy eyes as her finger's delved into his optics finger's curling inward to hook into the screaming mass of human's eye sockets. The very next second? The man would be dead and Nyx would be holding his skull, against her chest with his corpse fallen atop her. "Blood will flow in his name, even if one knows not who he is" she mumbled the sentence as she sat up, hugging the bloody skull as she inhaled sharply jumping to her feet and grabbing the nearest weapon aiming directly to slice the heads off any remaining opponents which was only a handful of people at most. It had been so long since she had gone nuts on enemies like that, the adrenaline coursed through her veins freely and the girl almost wished another enemy would rush her, but no one else was left alive in the room, expect if Masha had missed any caged fairies.

The voice of her guild-mate filled the area where she had just partaken in a massacre for the first time in so long, feeling stickiness wash down her as the adrenaline wore off. "Huh?" still having this far off look in her optics, the spirit turned at her waist to look upon the hallway that Masha was standing down, still, just far enough neither of them could see the other. Muddy optics blinked as her head tilted, wondering why the girl was refusing to come into the room, but those same eyes widened before long, as she looked around. Everywhere in the room, blood had been splattered, the room which had once been simple stones was basically now just painted red. Thinking back, the female noticed that the sucubus had never seen her do this before, from the day the other girl knew her, this had not been a thing due to how weak she had been.

"Oh gosh.. I guess you would be alarmed.." the female set down the skull she had been holding on a table for clear display as he had been powerful, he had pinned her, but the man was no where near strong enough to be the first skull she offered to Chaoris when she got to see him for the first time as a ghost. Nyx strode down the hallway, not having washed herself off, blood splattered across her entire transparent body and her own shining liquid leaked from her shoulder. "It's alright, doing this is nothing abnormal for me, I briefly touched on it before, I worship a God who treasures the shedding of blood, claiming of skulls, honor and the strength of his followers." fighting in a way that so pleased Chaoris? "When I fight hard, get angry, when my blood runs hot for some reason, I stop holding back" it made her feel close to him once more, even though she hadn't seen him in so long and didn't know if she would meet his blade or his favor on their next encounter. "I seek out the feeling of the blood and bone beneath my finger's, though I will admit, I haven't been able to fight for months now, I was starving for it." she had been desperate for the death, to start on the journey of proving her strength once more, thus it had actually been harder to control herself to any degree. "So what's our status?" the guild master appeared calmer now, and she also did not seem to feel the wound on her shoulder at all.

As soon as Masha was sure Nyx was back to her senses, she rushed into the room. Her arms wrapped around her friend, and her face was buried in the crook of Nyx's neck. It didn't matter to Masha that her friend was covered in blood. "I don't care. I don't care about any of that. I never want you to lose yourself. That's all I want." Hot tears gathered in her eyes. They began to fall as Masha tried to hold Nyx tighter. "I've been at the hands of those lost to logic, and fell into the hands of those lost to emotion, to passion. I never want you to become either one of them, Nyx. It would kill me to lose the only thing anchoring me to this world." She squeezed her eyes shut against the memories. She didn't want them. She wanted to forget the past, forget the scientists, the incubus and the mob plus the countless others. Hell had carved away part of her soul and in its place left only an emptiness. An emptiness that, at the moment, Nyx soothed.

Masha straightened embarrassed by her show of weakness. It was alright with Nyx since she would never use it against her but Masha tried not to reveal her weaknesses to anyone. It begged someone to come at her. She quickly wiped away her tears. It left streaks of blood across her face but Masha was past caring about her appearance. They had work to finish. "There is a transportation service set up for bringing in and disposing of fairies." She reported, turning toward the door. "The disposal part isn't so much of a problem. They were probably here. The issue is the fairy poachers have a shipment of fairies coming in today. That means there is a contingent of them out there hunting fairies right now." Masha didn't look at the fairy corpse in the room, splattered by human blood. It seemed disrespectful to have it covered in red but Masha wasn't going to touch it. Touching the dead was bad hoodoo. Especially those who died violently. "According to the report, they're taking the shifters deep in the forest. They don't want anyone in town noticing their hunting habits." Masha buffed her nails on her shirt and inspected them. "I think we should give them a taste of what it's like to be the prey for once. Seems only fair since they're on a hunting trip."

An evil grin grew upon Masha's face as she looked at the heads on the table. "Want to make this a game?" She gestured to the heads. "We'll collect heads from the shifters and poachers we find. Person with the most at the end gets....a favor from the other. Sound good?" Masha wasn't sure she could win but at least she had a fighting chance. That was all that really mattered. Besides it would be fun to go hunting with her best friend. So long as Nyx didn't try to take her head that is. "I'm sure this'll be easy for me. Men just love this ass." Masha turned, giving Nyx an innocent look over her shoulder. She even arched her back to make her butt stick up a little more. "It's too bad you don't have the curves to make a man swoon. It might have made this more of a challenge" She laughed as she took off running for the exit. All was fair in love and war.

Masha pulled upon her magic, detesting the slimy feel it gave her. She needed every advantage she could get right now. Black bat wings burst from her lower back. Masha had the speed now. She shot forward, a blur to any normal human. With this she would be taking heads in no time. A running leap took her clear over the fence around the compound. She realized she hadn't took Nyx where they needed to go. A shrug was all that thought got. Nyx was the all-powerful guild master. She didn't need a newbie mage to hold her hand. The fairies were scarce on this side of the compound. It made sense since the trees were thicker here, the town couldn't see the number suddenly drop off. The poachers could kidnap with abandon. It filled her with rage that people would go out of their way to harm such innocent creatures. The poachers were closer than expected. She could feel her body reacting to their proximity. It was something she hated with a passion. Any man or woman of a certain age around her sent her into a heat that demanded to be satisfied. Even after her sexual exploits with the guards before she killed them--really it hadn't even gotten that far since taking their heads had been her primary goal--her body wasn't satisfied. Masha resolved to take her sexual frustration out on the poachers. She wanted to win her little game against Nyx.

Total: 3,668

4,976 of 6,000
_______________
The rush of air from Masha's movement was the first thing she noticed considering how hot her blood ran fueling her sense's with adrenaline or at least the ghost equivalent of it. Only seconds later would the ghost realize the redhead had thrown arms around her transparent form, the words being spoken part of a blur. Even if she was speaking nicely again, there was still this tranced strangely docile expression in her gaze and she seemed to be a bit slow on what was going on around her. "Masha." pale arms wrapped around the girl in return, subtly concerning herself on if the redhead would appreciate getting blood all over herself since the room was basically dripping with the substance. Nyx leaned against something behind her and just let the long-haired girl cry into her neck, feeling those tears run enough to even wash a small spot of the blood from that area.

"Oh, child." the female chuckled slightly, dropping the skull she had been holding with one hand so she could run her hands up Masha's back and around to grip either side of the girls head with her bloodied hands. "I'm far from lost when I behave that way." as she spoke the guild master would stroke one blood-soaked thumb against the other girl's cheek. "People change when becoming lost to something because they can no longer accept themselves" she chuckled out loud at that comment, remembering when she was unable to accept herself for who she was. "They believe that nothing has changed or believe in a false reason for their actions." that comment was released with a full laugh no attempt to hold it back, clearly seeming to find such people humorous. "You'll find, I am not so pitiful as all that." the smile on her pale lips was gentle and led to the expression on her face being something akin to comfort. "The simple fact is I enjoy murder, I love the feeling of blood beneath my hands and the knowledge I am capable of taking another's life is exhilarating, I don't try to suppress or control it in the same way other's do, many view the act as wrong but for me it's no different than drinking or eating." the female would move to smooth down the other girls hair, light dancing behind her muddy gaze "Normally someone cracks under their own guilt and rationalizes what they've done somehow, making them dangerous because they'll go the ends of the earth or destory the earth to justify their acts as righteous." they convinced themsleves to some greater purpose or nessecity to their actions because they carried so much guilt that it was impossible to bear, Nyx didn't carry that, sometimes just like someone needed a drink of water, she needed that kill. "I don't require the justification, I know I simply enjoy the kill, thus I am able to control the impulse, the instinct, because I know it's just that, another part of me that can't be separated from me just because most of the world views it as wrong." even some other dark mages sometimes found issue with what she did, because she was the kind who would walk up to someone and challange them to a death match seemingly out of the blue just because she had the desire to kill someone again, but they just didn't understand it was not nearly so random, just how in control she was even when she lost it. "You won't lose me, I wouldn't just suddenly turn on my allies, only cowards and the weak people who reject their impulse suppress a basic need within themselves to the breaking point do such, I know when I need to kill someone and how to properly deal with that." with that ending comment so to speak the guildmaster pulled Masha close to her once more and hugged the mage for a little while, humming softly.

Listening to the girl's explanation of how things had been run around her the girl guessed it made sense, efficient at the least. "A Hunt." just how Nyx seemed to 'slip' into a different mode when Masha had mentioned river's running red earlier? The mention of hunting seemed to do the same thing, for any hunt promised a kill at the end of it, another mist of bloodshed. At the mention of collecting the heads of their victims, the guildmaster seemed to become almost like a perky teenager! "Yes!" the shout was given with one of those shoulder grab hugs that friends gave, a girlish giggle coming from the ghost. "I should warn you, I'm very good at skull collecting." the spirit gestured at the bodies thrown around the room, some of them beheaded and other's just straight up separated from their skulls. "To be fair I never got to finish growing up, my family had some hella good curves I could have inherited had I lived." the female was swift to not lose any pace, smirking at the other girls antics sprinting several steps to catch up and stand beside her, for an honorable start to this contest.

Soon enough the other girl was off and the ghost subtly wished she still had the body of a Kasha it would have ensured her victory, but she still had her senses and experience performing head hunts considering who she worshipped. Nyx didn't 'check' or glance around the forest at all, she kept running in one set direction letting what some could call 'a predators instinct' drive her towards any waiting victims.

Masha let out a breath of relief when Nyx reassured her. That was a weight off her chest. There might be a small chance her friend would turn into a monster but that chance was very very small. it made her feel much better about the whole going crazy in battle thing. She traced a little symbol into the blood on Nyx's chest. It was an old symbol she had found in one of the old man's books. Nyx had given her to the old man to await her arrival in the current time. Masha had had to amuse herself somehow. This symbol apparently meant inner peace, outer ferocity. It fit the tiny ghost guild master perfectly. She was intent on her work, halfway listening to the rest of Nyx's speech. Chaoris had never held Masha's attention. He might be important to her best friend but she had never met him. He wasn't important to her in any way except in that Nyx worshiped him.

The hunt was exhilarating for Masha. She knew she didn't stand a chance against the guild master but she could at least make it interesting. As she ran, Masha shed her clothing piece by piece. They were ruined anyway. Her body would act as both a lure and a distraction to the hunters. That would allow her to snap the trap shut...shit. The rest of her was still covered in blood. Masha debated the merits of stopping to wash in the river quickly. An ethereal beauty covered in blood was much less alluring then one who appeared to step out of a fairy tale. She groaned silently to her self and stopped to take a dip. Her fragile lead was probably quickly vanishing as the blood clouded the river and floated lazily down the stream. The water was freezing but it had an interesting effect on Masha. She looked down at her chest with a smile. That would definitely bring the hunters a running. And with her long red hair... This would be easy keeping up with Nyx.

A sound made Masha whip around, her dagger coming to her hand. It was kept just below the water to keep it from being seen. Her throwing dagger was carefully hidden within her hair. A boy stepped out of the trees. He was clad in leather armor. On his back were cages of fairies. Masha didn't let her anger cloud her face. That might scare him off. His eyes were glued to her chest. His sword dipped toward the ground, held lack in his hands. The fairies chattered wildly on his back. Their tiny hands rattled the bars as they began to notice the redhaired mage. They wanted freedom from their prison. Masha smiled slowly at the boy. His face flushed and he turned his face away, trying to hide his stare. This would be easier said then done. She was about to make the kill when a large man stepped from the forest behind the boy. His face was red with anger, what little masha could see. A large flowing beard covered most of his face though his head was bald. The large man shoved the boy roughly, nearly making him fall over. "What are ye waitin' on boyo?! We've go' ta get those fairies back ta camp!" He followed the boy's gaze to Masha's naked body. Lust covered up whatever anger he had been feeling. "Well tha's a beauty there! You ge' back ta camp boy! I'll be havin' me some fun!"

Masha hid her disgust behind her smile. The man was fumbling with the belt of his pants. The fairies shrieked louder at her as the lustful barbarian approached her. Clearly they thought she was daft, if not downright mindless. She would show the silly creatures. She was a mermaid, an assassin of the sea, righting the wrongs wrought against the ocean. Her arm dripped water as she raised her hand to cup the man's cheek. Her dagger was slipped back into its sheathe beforehand. His fumbling stilled for a moment. His cheek was shoved roughly into her hand. Then his hand closed around her wrist. The other hand groped at her body. A flash of irritation went across her face. The barbarian didn't notice it but the boy did. He swallowed opening his mouth to say something. That wasn't good. Masha stepped into the barbarian's embrace. Her dagger slipped into his neck. His eyes widened in surprise. She smiled sweetly, holding his large body against her own. The blade slipped out again. Blood splattered down her back from the barbarian's bleeding neck. Then flecks of blood were spread everywhere as the bloody dagger flew end over end into the boy's chest. His eyes widened as well as he fell backward. The cages hit a tree, releasing some of the fairies. Masha held the boy's eyes as he slid all the way to the ground. The light slowly faded. She hadn't intended it to be an easy death.

The barbarian's body was slid off her shoulder quickly. She dragged the corpse ashore by its beard. After retrieving her dagger, it was easy to remove the heads. Masha looked at them for a moment before carving an 'M' into each forehead. Nyx wouldn't be claiming these two for her own. Then she answered the river's beckon once more. Her body needed to be pristine for her trap to work. After the first two or three, then she would start hunting the proper way. Masha debated releasing the fairies. They were still screaming for release. Would they attack her if she released them? Or help her take down those that captured her? She sighed stepping up to the headless body. "Don't you be attacking me now or you'll regret it." She warned the little sparklies. The locks were fairly easy to break with her enhanced strength. The fairies heeded her warning after the first one to attack her was brutally cut down. Masha glared at the rest of them as they fluttered off into the forest.

Masha headed off after them. Thankfully the scientists had toughened the bottoms of the feet. The forest floor didn't bother her as much as it might have another person. The twigs and rocks were mere annoyances. She flitted through the trees. It must have looked strange to any of the hunters. However, it did draw them in close. Unfortunately there was five of them at the same time. Masha decided she would have to rely on surprise. Physically she was stronger and faster than all of these men. Deciding to try and get them all close, Masha stopped and crouched, her hair spreading out behind her on the forest floor. She could hear them messing with their pants. Already raring to go huh? This might work better than she thought. Her weapons were hidden on nude sheaths, strapped to her inner thigh. They shouldn't have noticed those. She looked up as they neared. A vacant smile crossed her face. One of the men cursed. "She's simple! That takes nearly all the fun out of it! I'll keep watch..." He grumbled turning away. Two of them grabbed her arms roughly from behind and yanked her up. One of them shoved his mouth next to her ear. "We're gonna play with you, sweet thing. We don't care about your brain. Only this sweet body." He grabbed her chest roughly. Masha turned to look him right in the eye. "You like to play huh?" His eyebrows raised at her clear answer. The man 'standing watch' turned around. "Oh she isn't-"

Masha kicked out crushing his throat in a simple brutal move. The men didn't even have time to react while the body fell. She wouldn't let them. Yanking her arms from their grasp, Masha stepped away from them. Her throwing dagger pierced the neck of one of the men. He fell to his knees gasping. His hand turned red as he tried to stem his life blood's rapid exit from his body. The man next to him tried to take a swing at her. Stupid. They were all standing close together. Moving away sent his fist into an ally's nose. They stumbled together and fell to the ground in a mass of writhing limbs. Turning to the last one standing, Masha delivered a destructive right hook. He tried to block but the blow crushed his arm and snapped his neck. He fell without a sound. The two on the ground were dealt with swiftly, daggers to the back of the neck. Masha leaned against a tree for the moment. Wow she was a little out of shape. Too bad her body hadn't told her that earlier. Pushing off the tree, Masha set up the bandits' heads on makeshift pikes. Each had an 'M' carved into their foreheads. She was now up by seven. Masha grinned excitedly. Maybe she could win after all!

Total: 5,158

[5,790/6,000]
Anyone involved with the capture and slaughter of the fairies they were rescuing? Had already proved to be cowards by attacking something smaller in swam offering no chance for there to be a true fight, keeping them captive and tormenting them until not even giving them the honor of fighting for their life. Even against those odds? The fairies had kept fighting, powering their way through the misery and loss until they could obtain the help of someone who was stronger accepting their own weakness but fighting with honor all the same. At last, they had reached the final stretch of the battle they had spent a good part of the day in, the remaining enemies were not even aware of it but they were no better than fish in a barrel. Cowards would not be permitted to live, not while she was the one hunting them down.

Even though she moved swiftly the guild master made no noise, easily using the skills she had developed when she had been justifying herself and honed since the time she came to accept herself, she didn't miss a single beat as she came upon her most victim. Nothing ran through her head and that was the beauty of the hunt. Nyx didn't need to know that his hair was black, she didn't need to realize the fairy that flew from his hand as blood sprayed from his neck, none of that was important. The day she had stopped fighting her own impulse to slaughter and accepted chaoris as her god, the ghost realized the senses she despised during life, those once considered freak feelings, were all she needed to guide her hand through battle if she truly chose to let go. Quickly as she pounced head-on at the first man, she was gone once more, the skull in her hand as she sprinted towards the feeling of 'death' once more, not hesitating.

The biggest difference in the two hunts going on at the current moment? Was the fact Masha had to hunt down and lure in, her craft was one that took a few minutes to pull off. Eventually, as the hunting dragged on the succubus would find that her 'intended victims' were dead by the time she reached them all notably missing their heads or at least their skull. One of the bodies that the redhead had the chance to come across? Was also notably slashed open across the stomach and part of that anatomy was missing, which may not end up making much sense until she would finally catch up with the ghost. The bodies kept piling up and many times it seemed that the guild master had faced between four and five people at once, most having appeared to not get any further than simply raising their weapon.

When Masha finally caught up with the specter? Thud, the sound filled the air momentarily as a nicely dressed body, likely the leader of the whole operation fell to the ground his head clearly not attached to his neck. An entirely 'dulled' muddy gaze turned to look at the redhead who had just arrived, but the 'tranced' gaze was likely the least eye-grabbing thing. Slung over her shoulder and wrapped around her body, lay the missing intestines of the disemboweled man from earlier. Clearly? Nyx had gotten tired of carrying the heads directly at some point and thus threaded all the skulls or heads she had collected onto the gorey rope. "I think you'll find I won, Masha." the smile that came across the ghost's face at that comment, holding the severed head to her chest? Was happier than most she often gave, a slight hum coming from her throat. She had proven her strength again!

Shockingly? The symbol that masha had painted on the spirit earlier remained entirely untouched, in the exact state it had been left. Nyx certainly did have her inner peace, the only demon she really struggled with was the torrent of need to be strong enough to reunite with Chaoris one day soon, and to make sure her 'crimes' did not come back to bite her mother. Large optics scanned her guild member, realizing the nudity "Masha, we did just rescue more than a dozen fairies, the species are good tailors to some extent, we could ask them to make you something so you don't have to walk around nude." she doubted the succubus really wanted to walk into a town bare or kill again just to obtain more clothing. "I'll have to start looking through my records again to see if I can find any material that's, durable, enough for you." the way she spoke the comment? More illuded to the intention to find Masha something that would do well preventing blood from clinging to it, so that Masha did not have to shed her clothing so often.

Masha had no issues trotting about the woods in the nude. She actually found it quite freeing. While it might be frowned upon, Masha planned to walk around naked at the guild. See how many eyes she attracted then. How many eyebrows would be raised? She giggled at the thought as she glided through the trees. The hunters seemed to be gone however. Even as she had the thought, Masha stumbled across a corpse. Unsurprisingly, the head was missing. Masha grit her teeth. Nyx had cheated somehow. She had to have. Masha turned her nose up at the mess that had been made. Perhaps she would have more luck back by the river. She had promised the river would run red after all.

The ethereal beauty that Masha had been trying to project faltered when she reached the edge of the river. Fairy bodies and bones littered the bank. As far as she could see in either direction, the river was stained silver, its banks bleached white. A terrible rage began to settle down upon the young redheaded mage. She had never seen carnage like this. While Masha had nothing against carnage, this was too much. A child played on the opposite bank with a fairy corpse. Masha had to reign in her rage not to kill the young one. There was no telling if the little one even knew what she was playing with or not. If Masha found out the girl had known however... a mirthless smile curled upon ruby red lips.

Masha turned away from the fairy graveyard for a moment. Despite her disbelief in such things, Masha offered up a prayer to Chaoris. She had basically been raised on that faith and Nyx seemed to believe whole heartedly in him. Masha had met gods and they had fallen well short of her expectations. What good were beings that cared so little for those under their charge? Still, this sight was one that prompted prayer to fall from Masha's lips. She couldn't help it. The sight of so many thousands of dead fairies would be enough to have all but the heartless praying. The child hadn't noticed Masha. The mage preferred it that way as she faded back into the shadows. This was no longer about a game. This was revenge plain and simple.

The bodies were easy enough to track. Masha backtracked along the way she had come. The river flowed from that directions. In which case, the bodies must have floated down the river from that direction. Masha put all of her speed into flying toward the object of her fury. They were crouching by the river. A few had the large backpacks the boy Masha had killed earlier had worn. They were cages full of dead fairies. Two of the men were doing something with the bodies. Masha didn't want to look too closely. It looked perverted at best. They died first. Her daggers slammed into the backs of their necks, thrown from a great distance. The only issue with that plan, despite her satisfaction in offing those two morally oblivious men, was now she didn't have any weapons. The rest of the corpse disposers were turning toward her. It was too late to act all sweet and innocent. Masha raced toward them as fast as she could. Best to get this over with quickly.

She was among them without pause. Her mistake was to underestimate them. A club crashed down upon the back of her head while she was choosing a target. Masha stumbled forward. Her head whined at the pain now exploding from the wound. The men jeered, a few shaking their fists at her. She couldn't focus. She looked up only to find that everything was blurry, barely visible. "Better hit her a second time. Don't want anyone to hear her screaming" One of the men chuckled. As the club struck again, Masha realized what they meant to do. Her soul cried out as unconciousness took her. No!!!

Masha was awake fairly quickly. Or so she hoped. There wasn't a sticky feeling between her legs. That meant they were preoccupied with something. As she looked up, her head throbbing from her beating, Masha groaned at the sight that greeted her. A lupine humanoid sat atop a nearby stump. He was chomping down upon what appeared to be the leg of a human. Masha pushed herself upright as best she could. "What are you doing here, Barathrum? I thought you had been thrown back into that pit I found you in." The lupine waved with his second set of arms, using the first to hold his snack. After ripping a long piece of flesh off the leg, Barathrum turned his short snout toward Masha. "I happened to be in the neighborhood when I heard you cry out. Don't deny it!" He waved a finger at Masha when she opened her mouth. She closed it again slowly. "We have a telepathic bond and I owe you a life debt. This was a small way of repaying you." Masha sighed managing to climb to her feet. This Wendigo was not someone she enjoyed seeing. Her mistake in freeing him from his pit prison had resulted in a permenant connection between them. Something she only wanted with her One. Barathrum was definitely not her One. "Leave here, Barathrum. Don't eat anyone on your way out of town." The Wendigo bowed before vanishing with a clap of thunder.

The excitement Masha had had in the beginning of the hunt was now gone. She only wanted this job to be over with. Then she could use the payout to buy sexy new clothing or chocolate. Probably chocolate. The redhead made her way slowly to Nyx. "Yes it looks like you did" Masha said dejectedly, accepting her defeat. There hadn't been a chance in hell for her judging by the number of heads Nyx wore about her waist. When Nyx mentioned the fairies were tailors, Masha managed a grin. "That's fantastic! I want a lacy bra, a lacy thong aaaannnnndddd some fishnets. A tiny bikini would not be unappreciated either. But if they can't..." Masha shrugged a delicate shoulder. "I would love to see how many heart attacks I could cause walking around town like this." She clapped, smiling at the guild leader. "And with that guy in the fancy suit dead, we're done right? So when are we headed home?"

Total: 6,232

WC met.

She felt really happy right now for some reason, why was that? Nyx took stock of everything she knew had happened, but her elation was still slightly above what it should have been compared to what was in her head. "They should be able to manage something." she chuckled the comment at all of the redheads clothing choices, Masha certainly had no problems with who she was and that made Nyx happy to see because she had been worried about what would become of the girl's self-worth when they first met. Coming from such a harsh background? Was sure to sometimes leave some doubts, but Masha seemed to cope very well to the point she was a confident young woman, albeit a bit crazy, but Nyx knew lots of crazy people and had once been crazy herself.

"I'm going to head home early, you can come back once you've gotten those new outfits and I'll have something cooked up for dinner, maybe something sweet and chocolatey for dessert?" she wasn't the best cook in the world as she obviously put most of her effort into the supernatural and combat, but her focus on the supernatural had made her one hella decent chef too. Plus, the ghost hunting group she once traveled with had always taken turns cooking, she had enough skill to occasionally serve up a meal here and there.