Shadowbane

A horrible realization came upon me on the way back to the hive.

"Are the people in that tent going to be alive again...?"

Whenever a human or a monster dies, I have anywhere between five to twenty minutes to eat their soul. If I don't, Meizha'thul takes it for herself. Those people were definitely dead for way more than twenty minutes...

Reaching the hive, I see it's intact as usual.

The suspense is starting to kill me, I really want to know what the Satyr is casting. I've only seen ancient magic a few times so it's hard to know what to expect. Master told me long ago that you never know what they're going to cast, since every Demon creates their own spells. Generally though, they all have some commonality with one another. A thunderstorm is still a thunderstorm at the end of the day, regardless of what they add to it.

Off in the distance, I see three spiders piled together, sliding forward over a thin sheet of ice. The spider in front slams into a tree, making a sharp shrieking sound before turning around and attacking the other two. Absentmindedly I watch the brawl between spawns, wondering if the temperature is ever going to stop plummeting.

Entering the broken wall, I spot the redhead and a few soldiers standing over two corpses. The tall woman, and the Wendigo.

Removing my aura, I walk directly up to them. At first, only the men react, while the redhead keeps staring at the dead woman.

"... Father's waiting for you." She says, walking towards the makeshift wall currently being repaired.

Following after her, it doesn't take long for me to see a new tent has been set up behind the crater.

She turns towards the tent but I stop and call out to her, "Hang on, I should probably get clothed first."

Turning, she looks me up and down, "You're naked...? Why?"

"I decided there was no point in making armor this time. I'm coming here after all, so I want to equip something much better."

Heading into the home opposite the tent, the girl follows me. She enters as I'm undressing the dead woman on the ground.

"You're taking this? My brother is going to be furious. Do you know how much these clothes are? Do you even know what these clothes are?"

"I don't know what the material is called, but I know it can be infused with mana. He can bill me later."

The redhead sighed. "... I'm sure a naked girl from the woods is loaded with money."

"Eh, I can steal any amount I need. Only the most expensive of homes have defenses that see through my aura."

The girl goes silent while I finish re-equipping myself.

"Ahh... Much better! How do I look?"

"You look as if that outfit was made for you. Very convenient, isn't it?" She said, exiting the home.

Every word she says is laced with venom. I don't know how she feels about me killing the woman who blew her up, but I imagine she's not happy about what I did to Keith's group. Not that I care about her feelings in the least.

Walking toward the tent behind her, I'm surprised to see the two ceremonial guards nod to me as I approach.

The redhead strides past them into the tent, with me following shortly after.

My eyes go wide when I see everyone inside the tent. "How is this possible...? You're all alive?"

"Huh? Obviously we are. I thought you knew about the reset?" The redhead said.

"Yes I know about it, but they were dead for far too long. There's no way your souls were..."

The girl stared at me in confusion, then turned to her 'father' who was apparently the old grandpa from before.

"Don't worry about that, I'll explain later when we have time. For now, allow me to thank you for saving our esteemed guest! It was a hell of a blunder allowing my daughter to bring someone here who responded in kind by killing everyone here." The old man glares at his daughter, who hangs her head down in response. "... Be that as it may, I thank you again, Lady Reimia."

Reimia... Hearing that name put me on full alert.

"How do you know my name?"

The old man laughs, "Forgive me, my lady! Only dying old men like me would know that name I'm afraid. I had a hard time believing my ears when Lady Aresa described what you look like. There has only been one person in the history of Urza who looked like that. Whether you'll consider it a blessing or an insult, nobody remembers you or much of Xelba for that matter. Only my wonderful children you see here will even know the name Xelba."

"Xelba... I'm going to need a refresher course on that. You told us about that place when we were kids, Father." Jasper said.

The old man blinks, turning to the redhead who looks away from him in response.

"... You little fuckers. I know neither Viseux nor Khan Uluhm are concerned with history, but you should at least remember the important bits I taught you!!"

Seeing both his kids hang their heads down in shame I can't help but laugh. "Honestly, it's fine, mister...?"

"Godwin, my lady."

"Now then, Godwin, please stop with the 'my lady, my lady' phrase. I've never been anywhere near a position where someone should be calling me that. Everyone here just call me Rei. Also, it's probably for the best that nobody remembers Xelba. Very few good things came out of that place."

"Forgive me again but, I'm surprised to hear that anything good came out of Xelba," Godwin replies.

... He's not wrong to think that. The good thing I referred to were my friends... My new family. We planned to move to Gaia together, living there forever as one unit. That is until they... were...

Multiple images flood my mind. Large rows of teeth gnashing at meat. An endless cacophony of screams as the sound of bones being crushed plays out around me. Viktor stared down at us with his usual blank unreadable expression. A half-dozen Satyrs reinforced the barrier, allowing no one to escape. While I... I was...

A soft hand touches mine, pushing a light stream of mana into my soul.

Looking down, I see the girl with blue hair with golden streaks glancing up at me, concern written all over her face.

"Would you like to sit down?" Godwin said, making no mention of the state I'm in.

"Eh? Ahh... Right, sorry. I was... Thinking about something." Something I've adamantly been avoiding... Don't think about it, don't think about it...

A seat is placed opposite Godwin, and the girl leads me to it.

I can walk on my own, but if a cute girl is going to escort me then I have no reason to object.

Sitting down, Godwin immediately speaks up, "Soooo... Mind telling us in your own words what happened? I'm having a hard time believing my daughter's words at this point concerning her friend."

The redhead scoffed when she heard the word 'friend'.

"Didn't the blue-haired girl here tell you? I'd rather not waste time on this reset reiterating things."

"Indeed she did! Even so..." Godwin glares behind me.

Well, I guess I don't blame him. His daughter brought in someone who killed everyone here and almost succeeded in kidnapping their guest for some kind of Eldritch.

I gave them a quick rundown of what happened yesterday, starting from the beginning.

"While I have many questions about this hive and Satyr, your account is the same as Lady Aresa's. I thank you for saving her and purging that bug in our midst." Godwin said.

"Sir, I must interject with one question." A large man with a neatly trimmed beard sitting to Godwin's left speaks up.

"The hell you asking permission for? Since when is that how we do things?" Godwin replied.

"A-Ahem, I would like to ask La... Reimia, you said that you ate her soul?"

Ahh... I forgot how much that creeps out regular people. The group I was with had long since gotten used to it, and even found it useful.

"Yes, that is what I did. Same for the Wendigo out there too."

Only Godwin, Aresa, and the man who asked the question had no reaction. Jasper looked... Happy?

"Disgusting indeed," Godwin said without emotion, clearly not caring at all. "Anyway, what was that about a Satyr? There are only two ways a Demon like that would appear. Either through a portal from another moon, or someone summoned it here from a different realm."

"Considering what a member of Keith's group just did to us, I believe the answer is obvious." Jasper cut in before I could respond.

Behind me, I could hear the redhead suck in air sharply. "W-Wait! You can't possibly believe Keith's group summoned a Demon! Janet was surely acting on her own. I was only told to look after her, she's been acting crazy ever since her kids were eaten... They weren't sure what to do with her."

That sounds like a pretty good reason to go crazy. I don't feel bad for killing her, but I understand her behavior better now. It's truly a shame she couldn't be reincarnated with her kids... Regardless of what I did, it would have been impossible. Her kids' souls were eaten soon after they died after all, assuming whatever ate them didn't take the souls too. This is why my unit was trying to flee to Gaia... This galaxy is completely fucked, there's no hope to be found here.

Godwin looks at me, urging me to continue.

"They summoned a Satyr by sacrificing all the villagers over there. It was a little weird though, the village looked abandoned. Were those people really living there?"

"It was a relocation project to help the Kitsune finally settle into their own place after thirty years. This was the starting phase and why two of our best groups were sent to make sure they were able to rebuild in peace until a branch of our guild could be established here. Looks like that plan backfired immediately... What a fucking joke." Godwin said, clear rage in his eyes.

"So you believe her Father? For the record, you know I do." Jasper said.

"I know you do son. You were the only one saying something was off with Keith, and I dismissed your concerns entirely... It appears this old man was the failure this time. Fucking hell, I'm going to lop that limpdicks head off when I see him next."

My instincts began flaring up again, telling me something was off. Looking back, I immediately see why.

"Hey!! Redhead, I can see the communication line connected with your mark. What are you telling that big-breasted girl?"

"Huh...? Are you talking about Nisha?" She replied, bewildered.

She's either an amazing actress, or...

"Rei, are you saying that Nisha is connected to her right now? Nisha is a girl with large breasts as you say. She is about one hundred and sixty centimeters tall, with long brown hair and green eyes. Is that her?" Jasper asked.

"Yes that was her, I can see mana-lines connected to people when she reaches out to her marks. There's one on your sister right now."

*tap tap*

We all look towards Aresa.

{I can see it as well. The connection was established soon after she spoke about Janet.}

"... Hmm. While I only know the basics of Nisha's ability, I do however know my daughter. Rei, she truly is surprised right now." Godwin looks at Jasper. "Any reason she'd be connected to Hera but not speaking?"

"From what I remember, she can feel what's around her marks, it's how she figures out where to place her traps. Perhaps she is only doing reconnaissance to see who is all in this room? Which would mean she knows about our new guest." Jasper said.

"Not necessarily. My soul is completely shrouded, she would need to have an unbelievably powerful scanning ability to pierce the veil guarding me."

"Even so, after Janet's soul disappeared I believe her objective was to keep tabs on you. The only difference is that she now believes you aren't here in the tent with us. I really would like to know what they planned on doing with us in the event we learned of their plans." Jasper said, then looked at me. "Can you go into detail about what you witnessed? Did you actually see the ritual?"

"No. I woke up in a jail cell where two low-lives were guarding my supposed dead body. Gaz and Peter were their names."

"They were guarding you while believing you were dead? Why...?" Hera asked.

"Oh my foolish daughter, did you also forget what I taught you about Demons? They would never let go of such an interesting find. A rare hybrid appearing out of nowhere? That's a dream come true for them."

I proceeded to explain everything that happened up till the last reset, this time in full detail.

"Kind of unrelated, but the reason Gaz wanted to cut you up was because that sword is cursed. As a result, it's extremely sharp, which entices the untalented to want to wield it. We learned he had stolen it from the original owner and planned on retrieving it after the mission. However, retrieving the sword right now would be... Difficult." Jasper said.

Oh, that explains why such a boring sword was ridiculously sharp.

*tap tap*

We all look to Aresa again.

{Hera, what did Nisha tell you about Rei?}

"Oh, good question. I didn't even consider that." Jasper said.

"She said that an Elven girl with long white hair and red eyes had killed Gaz, Peter, Jason, and Brian. I was told we should kill her on sight because the Elf said she was hunting everyone here for their souls to perform a Demonic ritual."

Pfft...

"Brian, Jason..." Godwin said with his head in his hands.

"You may find this hard to believe after what they did Rei, but those two truly were good people... Or so we believed. The idea of those two sacrificing five hundred people for themselves is a little..." Jasper trailed off.

"I don't find it hard to believe. I saw way worse things done in Xelba every week by 'good people'." I continued, "Regardless of how 'good' those two were, they needed to die. The question is, what are all of you going to do."

"Hang on, one last question. Were you hibernating in that hole?" Jasper asked.

"Huh? Hibernating?"

"I am asking why you were in that hole. If it wasn't hibernation due to whatever hybrid you are, then why were you there?"

"I'm not sure... I died while trying to kill one of the higher-ups in Xelba. He brought the whole city down on top of us while he fled through the portal underneath the capital."

"That's the last thing you remember? Dying in Xelba?" Jasper asked.

"Yes. Speaking of which, where the hell is this?"

"This is an abandoned region where the Kitsune used to live. The town where you woke up is the capital, Kikyou." Jasper replied.

Kikyou... I feel like I heard that name before. I think I even raided it at one point?

"Rei, I don't know how you're going to take this, but Xelba fell a long time ago," Godwin said.

What...?

"How long are we talking here?"

"I may be off by a year or two, but Xelba fell about forty-two years ago."

"Forty-two?!"

Forty-two years... How is that possible? Despite how miserable I feel when thinking about the past, reviving like this was still a blessing. I was ecstatic that I might get another chance to kill Viktor or meet up with the only two friends of mine that managed to escape to the Elven planet. Forty-two years later though? Who the hell knows where they are now. And if nobody stopped Viktor, then his plans would probably be nearing completion by now... Making him untouchable by the likes of me.

Suddenly everything feels pointless... What am I supposed to do from here on out?

"Rei, I know you aren't feeling too good after hearing that, but we need to take care of things here first before discussing the future, alright?" Jasper said.

"... Yeah, you're right." I'll put it out of my mind for now until I deal with this Keith asshole.

"Excellent! Then I need to ask a favor of you, my friend from the past." Godwin said.

A friend from the past huh? Hah... I will admit it feels good that at least one person knows who I was.

"What do you need?"

"A scout. I need to know what fucking monstrosity is in the village back there killing my men. We believe it's also responsible for bringing down the wall."

"A request designed for me, I'll happily accept. The reset has to be happening soon so I'll run over there and see what I can find."

I stand up, but as I'm turning around Jasper stops me.

"Wait! Those clothes... Did you take them from the assassin we killed?"

"Yes. Your sister said I could have them."

"Lies, she said she'll pay for them, brother. I heard her say it." Hera said.

"Bah fine, I'll pay you later. Consider this request as part of the payment."

"It was my Father's request..." Jasper mumbled as I stepped out of the tent.

I run through the main street, heading straight out of the broken wall while activating my aura.

The road is barely visible at this point, nobody has used it in ages after all. Still, it's slightly less congested than everywhere else so I'll take it.

Running till I'm about halfway there, I switch to a light jog, before settling into a sneaking stance as I near the village.

The closer I get, the more I'm surprised at how deathly silent it is here. All I can hear is the far-off sounds of combat in the settlement behind me. Strangely, there is no sound at all besides the occasional burst of wind. No insects, no sounds of movement... It's entirely devoid of life. Not that I'd expect an abandoned village to be emitting a myriad of different sounds, but I was expecting something. Whatever is responsible for the wall crumbling is also silent.

Walking through the entrance, I come into what appears to be the town square. There is a very large empty space here with all the homes further in.

This open space is much larger than the supposed capital Kikyou had. The only thing I can see is some type of elevated platform in the middle of the square. I think it's a gallows...? Directly behind it is a weird-looking tree covered in flora. Although calling it a tree might be a bit much, it looks like a stump that's about ten meters tall? Behind it is a massive ball of wood attached to it that's even bigger. It looks to be twenty meters across in all directions, including height.

... It didn't take long for me to find something suspicious. That ball is even larger than the Tengu. It's most likely a god.

After scanning the area, I spot a bunch of other large stumps with balls of wood attached to them from behind. However, these ones are much smaller in size. I'd say they're about the same height as a human male? I'd bet anything that these are the spawn.

Alright... Let's try waking this thing up.

I look around for a decent-sized rock, and once I find one I carry it over to the gallows. Whipping my arm forward, I throw the rock at the gigantic ball of wood. However, instead of bouncing off of it, it goes inside one of the holes on its body, bouncing around inside several times before going quiet.

After about ten seconds, a loud snapping sound erupts from the creature. The large ball of wood behind the stump starts to lift high into the air, slowly making its way above the stump. After it reached its zenith, the top of the ball started to light up a bright white, making it look like the top of a moon.

While I was fascinated by the unique appearance of this Eldritch, two yellow-orangish eyes opened up near the bottom of the ball, looking to and fro, obviously scanning the area for whatever had just thrown something at it.

Well, I got what I came here for.

I climbed down from the gallows and began making my way to the exit of the village. Glancing over my shoulder a few times, I could see the moon monster still scanning the area. However, the last time I glanced back, both the eyes and top of the monster slowly glowed brighter over the span of a few seconds, before finally flashing a brilliant white light that lit up the entire square. The light purged my aura completely, causing me to hit the ground screaming.

All at once I heard the snapping of wood from different parts of the plaza. The spawn was rising to finish the job.

S-Shit! The pain is out of this world but I need to run, quickly!

Forcing myself to stand, I fumble towards the gate, using my hands to stop myself from face-planting several times.

I don't know what this sound is behind me, but it's not the sound of wood rolling on the ground. Whatever it is, it's coming up fast.

Tsk, this is going to make the pain far worse, but I have no choice.

I completely devour the wooden soul, enhancing my feet and running straight out of the gate. On the outside I immediately pivot to the left and jump as far as I can toward the embankment. After landing I roll down the hill while reactivating my aura. I begin crawling toward a welded-up drain pipe just as I see a bunch of light shining brightly from the village entrance.

I want to writhe around on the ground in pain so bad... Forcing my aura back up while I was still reeling from the previous damage is something I never want to experience again.

Several of the spawn come into view with their spheres shining brightly, but they're fortunately nowhere near me yet.

Please don't come over here...

Now I see what that sound was... They're floating a few feet above the ground and it's causing some type of weird reverberation sound to emit.

They are spread throughout the entire field, so I couldn't run out of here even if I wanted to. Jumping over the wall isn't an option either, I can see a very bright light shining over the village. The god is still lighting up the plaza apparently.

One of the spheres heads this way.

Oh god damnit...

It comes right up to the drain pipe and begins scanning it. I don't see eyes on the spawn so I don't know how they're searching for me.

On the way to the pipe it hit me directly with the light a little, forcing me to stifle a scream, but I didn't lose my aura this time. Eventually, the sphere floats back the other way.

One more of those and I think that's it for me. Reset already damnit...

I have no idea of how long I hid there, but eventually water appeared around me.

I hope the Satyr isn't choosing this reset to attack, because I'm going to need some time to rest this reset...

Sitting down, I begin meditating.

Once I'm finished healing, I'm heading straight for Godwin. If the Satyr attacks the spiders I'll hear it while I'm down here, so if I don't, then I want to rush to Godwin and tell them what I found. Sadly, I didn't get to witness any of the Eldritch's offensive abilities... Which is kind of a problem, but there's nothing more I can do past this. That kind of Eldritch is the bane of my existence after all.