Chapter 17: Night Messenger
- Location
- CA
Chapter 17: Night Messenger
Before me were two children. They moved in synch. They fought as a single entity. Even their breaths were synchronized and fell with an even staccato. It crescendo until at least they fell to their knees. The droplets upon their chin hit the earth, but they were not in synch.
"You look and feel like you are fighting together, but I can feel in your youki. There is too much hesitation." I said looking at Elda. "And too much fury in you." I turned to face Hilda. Her youki jumped like lightning dancing between states.
"I don't think these two can go any further." I said. I did not comment on their ambition, but relished in their disappointment.
"That matches our own analysis."
***
Don't find me. Don't find me. Don't find me.
I closed my eyes. Seeing the darkness around me just made me more afraid, even though it looked the same with my eyes closed.
"Come out trainee Raphtel. Your punishment for harming your prospective handler will only get worse the longer it takes to find you."
....
My heartbeat soars. My ears become deafened. My soul deadens.
"Get the old number 10 in here already. This is getting ridiculous."
Why aren't they searching this closet? It's right here isn't it. I wait, and wait. I hear another girl--older and colder than me.
"All I can hear is a cloud of static. She's somewhere nearby but I can't tell where. It's...odd."
Don't find me. Don't find me. Don't find me.
***
"What was I like?"
"You danced in the sky with as much elegance as you frolic on the earth. But your wings were just silly ornaments. You tore them off, and then pulled yourself up into the sky with a hundred spider legs."
"How grotesque. Even as a beast I would not become so inelegant. Perhaps what you see truly is a reflection with everything flipped."
"It is merely one possibility and it diverged a long time ago. But there is one thing to take away. Your speed was unmatched even by the strongest warrior of that time. Yet, you were defeated."
"I can see why you are not more popular, Ysildre. Are your predictions always this dreadful?"
"Not always, but I've also seen worse. I once met a wanderer, who I saw fusing with another and dying. Then being reborn as an avatar of destruction."
"No spider legs?"
"No spider legs."
"Is there anything I can fuse with?"
"I believe I will take my leave. See you later number 1."
***
Her blade was a mere shadow. I couldn't see it. Only perceive it through the movements I felt my hand taking.
It was curious that I couldn't sense it. Where was the youki going, or what was it becoming?
The youma became diced into pieces. The spiked rib it wielded fell to the ground without ever drawing a drop of blood. The awakened still did not move.
"Do you still not see how futile this is? Even if you kill every Yoma everywhere the people will simply choose another monster to unite against. You will go from necessary evil to the final evil. You will be repaid in castigation and ostracization. The Organization has no use for Hunters without prey and you will be disposed of as the tools that you are." She extended her hand to me. A completely human hand. A gesture of openness and vulnerability.
"Shut up. You don't know me and you don't know jack." Like we'll ever kill all the yoma.
"You want to run, don't you. They always want to run."
She turns towards her man. I need to go now. She might seal my exit. I just need to figure out how to extend the move that only surrounds my sword arm over the rest of my body. My speed is laughable compared to hers, but if I can get my technique's stealth function to conceal my youki signature for just two or three minutes at a time I can lose her in the forest.
"I don't care. You're the worst monster of all. I'm human. Until the day I die." I give myself to it. Not 30% or 50% but 80%. Every fiber of my being dancing upon that cusp. The knife edge is bright and gleaming and seductively promises me eternity and rest. I stay standing upon the blade.
"What is she doing?"
Control it and mold it. The sword is my flesh and my flesh is the sword. The youki is my flesh and the flesh is my sword. My sword is my flesh and my sword is my youki. It moves. I don't.
I leap for the hole in the wall our fighting opened up a second ago. The exit is too far away. She watches me leave with amusement. Bitch. I vanish and enter the darkness.
***
I awoke. It the morning sun peaking through a canopy of leaves paints a shadowy pattern upon everything before me. It reminds me of my state of mind. Half Clare and half the unnamed Claymore from that memory Teresa copied.
"Slap."
"Come on wake up, Clare."
"I'm up. I'm up." I declare. Rising and finding my feet are full of pins and needles.
We had entered a meditative trance to conserve oxygen inside Erin's Other Room. Judging from my surroundings she had taken us out of it and I did a quick scan. I couldn't detect the youki source that had been in the distance when we first began.
"So it worked."
"Like a charm. Good job, Erin."
I finished processing the memories I'd recalled. My own attempts to comb through for techniques or gifted Claymores who were adept at hiding their youki had not really born fruit. There were just too few examples and I didn't really understand the mechanics of how they did what they did. Worse yet, I had no memories from Priscilla, so I also couldn't guess how she was so skilled at concealing her youki.
I turned to look at the town just below us again. We had been traveling south for several days making good time by having Ophelia carry Erin. We tried to suppress our own aura and avoid roads and towns, but we needed to restock before we tackled the wall. We took a chance and entered this town to buy supplies. It was possibly the last place we could do so in Toulouse. As we were leaving Ophelia had felt a vague presence at the very end of her detection range.
As planned, Erin opened her room and brought us both in, and we'd tried to reduce our oxygen consumption by meditating and reducing our heartbeat. Still, there were three of us and Erin needed to stay awake and conscious.
Periodically Erin popped us back into the real world to reset her room and the oxygen in it. She did this repeatedly for an hour before waking Ophelia to check if the presence was still around. Fortunately, it had passed out of range for her. We kept it up for another half hour hoping that if she did return the vague presence would be dismissed.
"Erin, do you need a break?" Asked Ophelia.
"No, besides you'll be carrying me." She said with an odd emphasis while looking away.
Ophelia scooped her up and we took off lightly jogging once more.
We reached the wall a little before sunset. Neither of us wanted to climb it in the dark, but we decided it would be safer to make camp on the other side of it. We were still a little spooked by what had happened earlier.
Erin clung to Ophelia's back as I followed them up. I reassured Erin I'd catch her if she fell off. It helped that she was no longer carrying that big axe. We had convinced her to sell it and buy a halberd instead. It had taken a chunk out of our bandit slush fund and yoma spoils of war, but we have been replenishing that as we go.
Our climb was a lot like scaling a dangerous tree. I was bloody from thorns I'd missed in the twilight when I made it to the top. Halfway up I had started just sinking my sword into it periodically and using it as a hand hold to pull myself up.
"What a view." Whispered Erin. Compared to the Awakened I'd seen the wall was more than twice as tall as all of them. Only Isley might have reached half the height of the wall.
"What do you think it's like over there?"
"I don't know. They've spent over a year without any support from the Organization or the Saints Order. They could have been overrun by Yoma, or they could have been massacred in the fight that between Abyssal Ones. We certainly never had Red Dust Storms in the south before it got cut off."
Below us for hundreds of kilometers stretched green fertile grasslands, but I could also see nearby signs of forests that had been knocked over or picked bald by the fierce storms that occasionally raged. In the distance rose the Slovanská Mountains. What I didn't see, however, were orderly planted fields or moving caravans.
"Their army looks like ants." Said Ophelia as she looked down at the activity going on in the distance to the East. They'd breached the wall by building an array of reflectors. With the concentrated sun they'd somehow burned their way through with a flash that even we'd seen from around 10 km away. What we didn't know was how they were inhibiting it from regrowing.
"And ants can lift several times their weight. Plus they work collectively to solve their problems."
"I just wish they'd go faster. I don't like how long it's taking them to funnel through their hole."
I agreed. Even when we got down we might need to find a good vantage point and then just wait for them to move deeper into the territory before we tried to make our run to harvest the venoms we needed. We needed quills from the Crocodile Monitor and venom sacs from any subspecies of the Hobo Spider. It would be even better if we could harvest acid from the Green Tree Ant, but that was the lowest priority.
"Let's review our plan." Said Ophelia. "When we get down there we need to find someplace to watch them from and then after they move out and have attracted most of the attention of the predators in this region we can try to scurry in and out as discreetly as possible. If we're unlucky and meet anything we can't handle we split up and try to lure it to the humans."
"Aren't you being a little overcautious. I mean sure we know something terrible exists down here that has been wiping out all the scouts, but what are the chances we'll run into it, and, yes, I know I'm tempting fate here but I think there's no need to be so cautious." Said Erin when I rolled my eyes at her.
"That's the thing. I don't think we'll run into it, but that'll be more because we don't present an appealing target then that they can't find us. You shouldn't ever underestimate an Abyssal One. Not even in terms of their youki sensing."
"An Abyssal what?"
"Abyssal Ones are the nicknames the Organization gives to most dangerous three Yoma in the world." Cut in Ophelia with glance at me. "They're in a different league from the rest of us. I once looked up the information on Riful of the West. Did you know she can even regenerate from half of our head? Our only hope is to rely on the fact that Warriors and other youki beings just aren't appealing meals. I fully expect Luciela, Priscilla or even damn Elda to be able to detect us and it's only a question of whether they want to go after us or the buffet in front of them."
"Elda's the one you said the cleansing hand had been hunting, right? I don't think that should be a problem. If they could put up a wall like this what are the chances it's not dead."
"Why are you so certain the Cleansing Hand is the one who erected this wall. It could have been the Awakened Being."
"If there's one thing I know better than you I think it's the capability of the 'god-touched.' This is beyond any one of them. This could only have been a group working. No way did this monster Elda do this even if she was the best barrier builder in the world."
"By the way," I asked. "How do you Rabonians reconcile that some yoma and awakened beings can carry powers?"
"I think they see it as the monsters possessing 'god-touched' and stealing their gifts." She said uncomfortably. "I don't pray as often as I'm supposed to, but they say if you're faithful enough then even if they can possess your flesh they won't be able to use your gifts."
We looked at each other. I wasn't sure how true it was for Yoma, but I wanted to at least explain the truth about what Awakened Beings were. Still, I'd trust Ophelia's power in handling this.
"Given that us warriors can awaken powers even after turning into half-human half-yoma hybrids I'm not so sure that it's them possessing powers so much as them actually awakening it. That said, even the Organization never had a good theory for how powers appeared and come about, so it might very well be divine intervention."
"That's an interesting point of view. I never really thought of my ability as a blessing given how I received it. It always seemed more like compensation from the heavens. I suppose you Claymores would have even more to be compensated for than us."
I turned back to Mucha. It was awe inspiring, but also intimidating. Unless she'd moved on, Priscilla was wandering somewhere within this land. If I met her I didn't think I could control myself well enough to not try to kill her. Try despite the utter hopelessness of it all. I had just enough strength to see how feeble I was. I drew my sword again. Then leapt from the wall swinging on branches on my way down.
"Taking the quick route, eh." Proclaimed a crouching Ophelia.
"NOOOO."
***
That evening I helped train Erin with her new polearm. I had a theory that Erin's power, which required touch, could be extended to anything that her blade touched just like Jacklyn's power did. Unfortunately, we couldn't seem to get it to work. Regardless, she was getting better at fending me off, or leveraging extra reach for more powerful blows. If she could find a Yoma she probably could even give it a fair fight.
Ophelia sat down to the side meditating. She was working on increasing her sensory range as much as possible. It was one of the harder areas for a warrior to improve in, but it was going to be critical to our future survival. I kept half of my attention outwards, though, checking with my own senses for anything.
"Why do you fight like that?" Asked Erin as she collapsed in exhaustion.
"Like what?"
"You're constantly rotating styles. I didn't realize it when I first saw you fight Heather, but you're kind of a jack of all trades fighter aren't you?"
"No, or at least I'm not aiming to be one." I said as I recalled using everything from my pommel to my fists and feet to beat her reach advantage. I had thrown her onto her back countless times and never the same way twice.
"Part of it is that I need to hold back in our matches since I don't actually want to hurt you, so it gives me a lot more options than I'd use in an actual fight." I said. She didn't need to know the primary reason my fighting style was a patchwork of a dozen or more styles of combat. I glanced at Ophelia, but she still seemed to be meditating.
"Great." Said Erin sarcastically.
"Don't be so discouraged." I said. "We were all tadpoles once."
"Some of us still are." Joked Ophelia. "Whoever you are. Reveal yourself."
What? I don't sense anything.
With a woosh a figure appeared on one of the tree branches in front of us. She was a tall with a blindfold covering her eyes. I could feel no aura, but the blade in her hand announced her identity nonetheless.
"Hello, welcome to our camp. I'm Ophelia Victoria. What is your name, surprise guest?" Ophelia asked.
The figure above us paused. "The Blind Sentinel," she said at last.
It wasn't enough for her power. Pseudonyms didn't count or we'd have plenty of intel on the saints. "In that case, what are you doing out here?" Ophelia asked.
"Investigating. Why are you here?" She responded. Her dress wasn't the armor of a warrior. If only I could see the symbol on her sword. It might help identify her, but it was dark and she was too far away.
"We're just preparing for a trip to the south. We have some things to pick up."
"The Organization wouldn't have sent you. Are you seeking to hide?"
"Yes, but first we want to get some suppressants."
Ophelia was sharing a lot, but we weren't getting nearly as much in exchange. I focused on our guest. Her stance was confident, her movements earlier hinted that she was at least a good deal faster and agile than me. I felt that if I was to face her my only hope would be to defend and hope she had some visibility problems if I brought her into harrier terrain. No, I don't think she'll have any problems with visibility regardless of terrain. Psychology. She's only mentally vulnerable, and it's only for a limited time.
"If you're willing to come with us we can share with you a cut." Invited Ophelia.
"No."
"Don't move." Ophelia yelled at Erin. She had been preparing something. Was it the smoke bomb we'd given her? It would have been a waste to use it here against this opponent.Whether for a throw or to charge I couldn't guess. She froze, however, at Ophelia's shout. "I'm sorry, but if that's the case is there anything else we can do for you."
"Move farther away. You're too close." She nodded in the direction of the army.
Huh?
Ophelia winced. "We can suppress our aura further if we move carefully."
"No. If you have no suppressants just leave." Her face and body then paled. Within seconds she'd collapsed into a pile of ash that was lifted away by a breeze.
"Damn."
"What was that?" I asked Ophelia. Erin behind me collapsed in shock.
"A first class warrior and power-user. She was announcing with her final move that we weren't even worth her time to recruit. She just wants us to leave before we can attract trouble to them, or lead trouble back to them. I need time to think."
"You said you were first class?" Asked Erin without giving her any pause.
"Yes, but even without using any youki I could tell I would have lost if I fought her. What did you pick up Clare?"
"Nothing. Maybe her power was interferring, but all I got was that she could be manipulated with mind games. I have no clue how that would work, though."
"Fine. Then we'll have to take her advice." She said bitterly.
We packed up and left within fifteen minutes. As we were leaving we felt something entering the very edges of our sensory range. It was three awakened beings. We ran as fast as we could. Had she sensed them? Is that why she came to our camp?
***
1. Priscilla (unknown epithet)
2. Kujira of the Nothingness
4. God-eye Galatea
6. Heat Haze Hilda
7. Older Sister Ophelia/The Voracious Cannibal
13. Eva
19. Eliza
29. Jacklyn
30. Wendy
32. Clare
Note: These rankings are the last known rankings of these warriors. Its possible they have gotten a lower number as lower warriors died or been pushed up if new high rank warriors joined the ranks like Alicia and Beth.
***
Omake: A History of the Cleansing Hand Part I
The grandfather of the Cleansing Hand was a man named Neptune Verilius. He was a doctor by trade and styled himself a scientist when time permitted him to exercise his hobby. He was a believer in the elder gods, but argued mankind should not simply accept soft-minded explanations that things are the way they are due to divine intervention.
He believed everything could be traced back to natural causes and sought to establish them for everything. His favorite had to do with the difficulty to produce dyes the same color as the sky. He believed blue was the most difficult color to produce artificially because it was the highest of colors and, thus, the most suitable for the floor of the Heavens.
However, the theory he was most notorious for had to do with the contagious nature of the Yoma infection. Through experiments he identified that Yoma could be "created" through introducing Yoma flesh and blood into cattle. He found their intellect inferior to natural Yoma, but they possessed the same instincts to hide their true nature while hunting and feeding on their brethren.
He crossed the line and was declared a heretic when he treated a dying man with yoma flesh and blood. The man made a full recovery and then lost the ability to stomach anything but raw meat. The subject was killed by Neptune when he discovered the man whose life he saved having killed his own son and wife. The only member of his family he managed to save was his daughter.
Still, Neptune was driven out, and his own daughter was taken away by the Organization. For a time it is said that he even worked within the Organization. What he did, however, is not known.
It was years later that he reemerged with a new wildly controversial and dangerous thesis--Yoma were not shapeshifting monsters but a disease. It may even be possible to cure it. His main emphasis, however, was on preventing transmission. He believed clean disposal and quarantines could help fight and eventually exterminate the plague.
He took his results to the Holy City of Rabona, to the council of nobles in Lille, to the merchant princes of the Mucha's Grand Mines. They all refused to back or support any of his changes. Several of them such as the cremation of remains and keeping working men isolated and testing them for signs of infection were just not acceptable.
He eventually found a sympathetic patron in the North, but before even a village to village incentivized roll-out could begin he was assassinated. His plans and research forgotten with his death.
It was resurrected by the founder of the Cleansing hand two years after the first "God-touched," Naomi of the Wild Winds, appeared. The founder was one of the early partners of Naomi and was consumed with an obsession about destroying the Yoma. He actually came into contact with Neptune's research in Lille where he sought a poison that would interfere with yoma regeneration.
The effect of the founder presenting Neptune's research and proposals was wildly different then the effect of Neptune presenting it. His words had weight and earned the ear of many with power and influence. Within a year towns all over began the practice of cremating the body parts and victims of yoma murders with the church's blessing, and all implements that had contact with it were either buried or washed and then stored for a year.
Of course, not all of Neptune's ideal code of conduct were implemented. Many found his demand for working men to be segregated and kept away from the crops and livestock for weeks until they could be completely tested too onerous.
Still, decades after Neptune's research had finally borne fruit. It is truly regrettable that the Heretic, who resurrected and spread his teachings far and wide, could not be satisfied with this.
***
Author's Note: I plan to tell the history of the Cleansing Hand in three parts: the start of the movement, its radicalization, and the split of it into the Cleansing Hand and the Red Hand.
Before me were two children. They moved in synch. They fought as a single entity. Even their breaths were synchronized and fell with an even staccato. It crescendo until at least they fell to their knees. The droplets upon their chin hit the earth, but they were not in synch.
"You look and feel like you are fighting together, but I can feel in your youki. There is too much hesitation." I said looking at Elda. "And too much fury in you." I turned to face Hilda. Her youki jumped like lightning dancing between states.
"I don't think these two can go any further." I said. I did not comment on their ambition, but relished in their disappointment.
"That matches our own analysis."
***
Don't find me. Don't find me. Don't find me.
I closed my eyes. Seeing the darkness around me just made me more afraid, even though it looked the same with my eyes closed.
"Come out trainee Raphtel. Your punishment for harming your prospective handler will only get worse the longer it takes to find you."
....
My heartbeat soars. My ears become deafened. My soul deadens.
"Get the old number 10 in here already. This is getting ridiculous."
Why aren't they searching this closet? It's right here isn't it. I wait, and wait. I hear another girl--older and colder than me.
"All I can hear is a cloud of static. She's somewhere nearby but I can't tell where. It's...odd."
Don't find me. Don't find me. Don't find me.
***
"What was I like?"
"You danced in the sky with as much elegance as you frolic on the earth. But your wings were just silly ornaments. You tore them off, and then pulled yourself up into the sky with a hundred spider legs."
"How grotesque. Even as a beast I would not become so inelegant. Perhaps what you see truly is a reflection with everything flipped."
"It is merely one possibility and it diverged a long time ago. But there is one thing to take away. Your speed was unmatched even by the strongest warrior of that time. Yet, you were defeated."
"I can see why you are not more popular, Ysildre. Are your predictions always this dreadful?"
"Not always, but I've also seen worse. I once met a wanderer, who I saw fusing with another and dying. Then being reborn as an avatar of destruction."
"No spider legs?"
"No spider legs."
"Is there anything I can fuse with?"
"I believe I will take my leave. See you later number 1."
***
Her blade was a mere shadow. I couldn't see it. Only perceive it through the movements I felt my hand taking.
It was curious that I couldn't sense it. Where was the youki going, or what was it becoming?
The youma became diced into pieces. The spiked rib it wielded fell to the ground without ever drawing a drop of blood. The awakened still did not move.
"Do you still not see how futile this is? Even if you kill every Yoma everywhere the people will simply choose another monster to unite against. You will go from necessary evil to the final evil. You will be repaid in castigation and ostracization. The Organization has no use for Hunters without prey and you will be disposed of as the tools that you are." She extended her hand to me. A completely human hand. A gesture of openness and vulnerability.
"Shut up. You don't know me and you don't know jack." Like we'll ever kill all the yoma.
"You want to run, don't you. They always want to run."
She turns towards her man. I need to go now. She might seal my exit. I just need to figure out how to extend the move that only surrounds my sword arm over the rest of my body. My speed is laughable compared to hers, but if I can get my technique's stealth function to conceal my youki signature for just two or three minutes at a time I can lose her in the forest.
"I don't care. You're the worst monster of all. I'm human. Until the day I die." I give myself to it. Not 30% or 50% but 80%. Every fiber of my being dancing upon that cusp. The knife edge is bright and gleaming and seductively promises me eternity and rest. I stay standing upon the blade.
"What is she doing?"
Control it and mold it. The sword is my flesh and my flesh is the sword. The youki is my flesh and the flesh is my sword. My sword is my flesh and my sword is my youki. It moves. I don't.
I leap for the hole in the wall our fighting opened up a second ago. The exit is too far away. She watches me leave with amusement. Bitch. I vanish and enter the darkness.
***
I awoke. It the morning sun peaking through a canopy of leaves paints a shadowy pattern upon everything before me. It reminds me of my state of mind. Half Clare and half the unnamed Claymore from that memory Teresa copied.
"Slap."
"Come on wake up, Clare."
"I'm up. I'm up." I declare. Rising and finding my feet are full of pins and needles.
We had entered a meditative trance to conserve oxygen inside Erin's Other Room. Judging from my surroundings she had taken us out of it and I did a quick scan. I couldn't detect the youki source that had been in the distance when we first began.
"So it worked."
"Like a charm. Good job, Erin."
I finished processing the memories I'd recalled. My own attempts to comb through for techniques or gifted Claymores who were adept at hiding their youki had not really born fruit. There were just too few examples and I didn't really understand the mechanics of how they did what they did. Worse yet, I had no memories from Priscilla, so I also couldn't guess how she was so skilled at concealing her youki.
I turned to look at the town just below us again. We had been traveling south for several days making good time by having Ophelia carry Erin. We tried to suppress our own aura and avoid roads and towns, but we needed to restock before we tackled the wall. We took a chance and entered this town to buy supplies. It was possibly the last place we could do so in Toulouse. As we were leaving Ophelia had felt a vague presence at the very end of her detection range.
As planned, Erin opened her room and brought us both in, and we'd tried to reduce our oxygen consumption by meditating and reducing our heartbeat. Still, there were three of us and Erin needed to stay awake and conscious.
Periodically Erin popped us back into the real world to reset her room and the oxygen in it. She did this repeatedly for an hour before waking Ophelia to check if the presence was still around. Fortunately, it had passed out of range for her. We kept it up for another half hour hoping that if she did return the vague presence would be dismissed.
"Erin, do you need a break?" Asked Ophelia.
"No, besides you'll be carrying me." She said with an odd emphasis while looking away.
Ophelia scooped her up and we took off lightly jogging once more.
We reached the wall a little before sunset. Neither of us wanted to climb it in the dark, but we decided it would be safer to make camp on the other side of it. We were still a little spooked by what had happened earlier.
Erin clung to Ophelia's back as I followed them up. I reassured Erin I'd catch her if she fell off. It helped that she was no longer carrying that big axe. We had convinced her to sell it and buy a halberd instead. It had taken a chunk out of our bandit slush fund and yoma spoils of war, but we have been replenishing that as we go.
Our climb was a lot like scaling a dangerous tree. I was bloody from thorns I'd missed in the twilight when I made it to the top. Halfway up I had started just sinking my sword into it periodically and using it as a hand hold to pull myself up.
"What a view." Whispered Erin. Compared to the Awakened I'd seen the wall was more than twice as tall as all of them. Only Isley might have reached half the height of the wall.
"What do you think it's like over there?"
"I don't know. They've spent over a year without any support from the Organization or the Saints Order. They could have been overrun by Yoma, or they could have been massacred in the fight that between Abyssal Ones. We certainly never had Red Dust Storms in the south before it got cut off."
Below us for hundreds of kilometers stretched green fertile grasslands, but I could also see nearby signs of forests that had been knocked over or picked bald by the fierce storms that occasionally raged. In the distance rose the Slovanská Mountains. What I didn't see, however, were orderly planted fields or moving caravans.
"Their army looks like ants." Said Ophelia as she looked down at the activity going on in the distance to the East. They'd breached the wall by building an array of reflectors. With the concentrated sun they'd somehow burned their way through with a flash that even we'd seen from around 10 km away. What we didn't know was how they were inhibiting it from regrowing.
"And ants can lift several times their weight. Plus they work collectively to solve their problems."
"I just wish they'd go faster. I don't like how long it's taking them to funnel through their hole."
I agreed. Even when we got down we might need to find a good vantage point and then just wait for them to move deeper into the territory before we tried to make our run to harvest the venoms we needed. We needed quills from the Crocodile Monitor and venom sacs from any subspecies of the Hobo Spider. It would be even better if we could harvest acid from the Green Tree Ant, but that was the lowest priority.
"Let's review our plan." Said Ophelia. "When we get down there we need to find someplace to watch them from and then after they move out and have attracted most of the attention of the predators in this region we can try to scurry in and out as discreetly as possible. If we're unlucky and meet anything we can't handle we split up and try to lure it to the humans."
"Aren't you being a little overcautious. I mean sure we know something terrible exists down here that has been wiping out all the scouts, but what are the chances we'll run into it, and, yes, I know I'm tempting fate here but I think there's no need to be so cautious." Said Erin when I rolled my eyes at her.
"That's the thing. I don't think we'll run into it, but that'll be more because we don't present an appealing target then that they can't find us. You shouldn't ever underestimate an Abyssal One. Not even in terms of their youki sensing."
"An Abyssal what?"
"Abyssal Ones are the nicknames the Organization gives to most dangerous three Yoma in the world." Cut in Ophelia with glance at me. "They're in a different league from the rest of us. I once looked up the information on Riful of the West. Did you know she can even regenerate from half of our head? Our only hope is to rely on the fact that Warriors and other youki beings just aren't appealing meals. I fully expect Luciela, Priscilla or even damn Elda to be able to detect us and it's only a question of whether they want to go after us or the buffet in front of them."
"Elda's the one you said the cleansing hand had been hunting, right? I don't think that should be a problem. If they could put up a wall like this what are the chances it's not dead."
"Why are you so certain the Cleansing Hand is the one who erected this wall. It could have been the Awakened Being."
"If there's one thing I know better than you I think it's the capability of the 'god-touched.' This is beyond any one of them. This could only have been a group working. No way did this monster Elda do this even if she was the best barrier builder in the world."
"By the way," I asked. "How do you Rabonians reconcile that some yoma and awakened beings can carry powers?"
"I think they see it as the monsters possessing 'god-touched' and stealing their gifts." She said uncomfortably. "I don't pray as often as I'm supposed to, but they say if you're faithful enough then even if they can possess your flesh they won't be able to use your gifts."
We looked at each other. I wasn't sure how true it was for Yoma, but I wanted to at least explain the truth about what Awakened Beings were. Still, I'd trust Ophelia's power in handling this.
"Given that us warriors can awaken powers even after turning into half-human half-yoma hybrids I'm not so sure that it's them possessing powers so much as them actually awakening it. That said, even the Organization never had a good theory for how powers appeared and come about, so it might very well be divine intervention."
"That's an interesting point of view. I never really thought of my ability as a blessing given how I received it. It always seemed more like compensation from the heavens. I suppose you Claymores would have even more to be compensated for than us."
I turned back to Mucha. It was awe inspiring, but also intimidating. Unless she'd moved on, Priscilla was wandering somewhere within this land. If I met her I didn't think I could control myself well enough to not try to kill her. Try despite the utter hopelessness of it all. I had just enough strength to see how feeble I was. I drew my sword again. Then leapt from the wall swinging on branches on my way down.
"Taking the quick route, eh." Proclaimed a crouching Ophelia.
"NOOOO."
***
That evening I helped train Erin with her new polearm. I had a theory that Erin's power, which required touch, could be extended to anything that her blade touched just like Jacklyn's power did. Unfortunately, we couldn't seem to get it to work. Regardless, she was getting better at fending me off, or leveraging extra reach for more powerful blows. If she could find a Yoma she probably could even give it a fair fight.
Ophelia sat down to the side meditating. She was working on increasing her sensory range as much as possible. It was one of the harder areas for a warrior to improve in, but it was going to be critical to our future survival. I kept half of my attention outwards, though, checking with my own senses for anything.
"Why do you fight like that?" Asked Erin as she collapsed in exhaustion.
"Like what?"
"You're constantly rotating styles. I didn't realize it when I first saw you fight Heather, but you're kind of a jack of all trades fighter aren't you?"
"No, or at least I'm not aiming to be one." I said as I recalled using everything from my pommel to my fists and feet to beat her reach advantage. I had thrown her onto her back countless times and never the same way twice.
"Part of it is that I need to hold back in our matches since I don't actually want to hurt you, so it gives me a lot more options than I'd use in an actual fight." I said. She didn't need to know the primary reason my fighting style was a patchwork of a dozen or more styles of combat. I glanced at Ophelia, but she still seemed to be meditating.
"Great." Said Erin sarcastically.
"Don't be so discouraged." I said. "We were all tadpoles once."
"Some of us still are." Joked Ophelia. "Whoever you are. Reveal yourself."
What? I don't sense anything.
With a woosh a figure appeared on one of the tree branches in front of us. She was a tall with a blindfold covering her eyes. I could feel no aura, but the blade in her hand announced her identity nonetheless.
"Hello, welcome to our camp. I'm Ophelia Victoria. What is your name, surprise guest?" Ophelia asked.
The figure above us paused. "The Blind Sentinel," she said at last.
It wasn't enough for her power. Pseudonyms didn't count or we'd have plenty of intel on the saints. "In that case, what are you doing out here?" Ophelia asked.
"Investigating. Why are you here?" She responded. Her dress wasn't the armor of a warrior. If only I could see the symbol on her sword. It might help identify her, but it was dark and she was too far away.
"We're just preparing for a trip to the south. We have some things to pick up."
"The Organization wouldn't have sent you. Are you seeking to hide?"
"Yes, but first we want to get some suppressants."
Ophelia was sharing a lot, but we weren't getting nearly as much in exchange. I focused on our guest. Her stance was confident, her movements earlier hinted that she was at least a good deal faster and agile than me. I felt that if I was to face her my only hope would be to defend and hope she had some visibility problems if I brought her into harrier terrain. No, I don't think she'll have any problems with visibility regardless of terrain. Psychology. She's only mentally vulnerable, and it's only for a limited time.
"If you're willing to come with us we can share with you a cut." Invited Ophelia.
"No."
"Don't move." Ophelia yelled at Erin. She had been preparing something. Was it the smoke bomb we'd given her? It would have been a waste to use it here against this opponent.Whether for a throw or to charge I couldn't guess. She froze, however, at Ophelia's shout. "I'm sorry, but if that's the case is there anything else we can do for you."
"Move farther away. You're too close." She nodded in the direction of the army.
Huh?
Ophelia winced. "We can suppress our aura further if we move carefully."
"No. If you have no suppressants just leave." Her face and body then paled. Within seconds she'd collapsed into a pile of ash that was lifted away by a breeze.
"Damn."
"What was that?" I asked Ophelia. Erin behind me collapsed in shock.
"A first class warrior and power-user. She was announcing with her final move that we weren't even worth her time to recruit. She just wants us to leave before we can attract trouble to them, or lead trouble back to them. I need time to think."
"You said you were first class?" Asked Erin without giving her any pause.
"Yes, but even without using any youki I could tell I would have lost if I fought her. What did you pick up Clare?"
"Nothing. Maybe her power was interferring, but all I got was that she could be manipulated with mind games. I have no clue how that would work, though."
"Fine. Then we'll have to take her advice." She said bitterly.
We packed up and left within fifteen minutes. As we were leaving we felt something entering the very edges of our sensory range. It was three awakened beings. We ran as fast as we could. Had she sensed them? Is that why she came to our camp?
***
By the way, in case you didn't know Elda (mentioned in volume 4) and Hilda (mentioned by Ophelia and appears in an special extra chapter) may be the same character. I've heard the reason they were spelled differently is because of a translation error (Elda is literal translation of エルダ while Hilda is supposedly the European name that was romanized into Japanese as Elda).
In honor of this Easter egg, I've made Elda and Hilda twins in this fic who are research subjects in the soul link project after Luciela and Rafaela (where they just used sisters) and before Alicia and Beth (where they used twins and broke down their individual identities starting from when they were babies).
Also, Erin's new weapon is a Halberd. I actually considered giving her a bardiche (long handled axe basically) or a glaive, but I like the idea of having three weapons in one (axe, point to stab, and hook/thorn on the back to pull mounted enemies towards you).
In honor of this Easter egg, I've made Elda and Hilda twins in this fic who are research subjects in the soul link project after Luciela and Rafaela (where they just used sisters) and before Alicia and Beth (where they used twins and broke down their individual identities starting from when they were babies).
Also, Erin's new weapon is a Halberd. I actually considered giving her a bardiche (long handled axe basically) or a glaive, but I like the idea of having three weapons in one (axe, point to stab, and hook/thorn on the back to pull mounted enemies towards you).
2. Kujira of the Nothingness
4. God-eye Galatea
6. Heat Haze Hilda
7. Older Sister Ophelia/The Voracious Cannibal
13. Eva
19. Eliza
29. Jacklyn
32. Clare
Note: These rankings are the last known rankings of these warriors. Its possible they have gotten a lower number as lower warriors died or been pushed up if new high rank warriors joined the ranks like Alicia and Beth.
***
Omake: A History of the Cleansing Hand Part I
The grandfather of the Cleansing Hand was a man named Neptune Verilius. He was a doctor by trade and styled himself a scientist when time permitted him to exercise his hobby. He was a believer in the elder gods, but argued mankind should not simply accept soft-minded explanations that things are the way they are due to divine intervention.
He believed everything could be traced back to natural causes and sought to establish them for everything. His favorite had to do with the difficulty to produce dyes the same color as the sky. He believed blue was the most difficult color to produce artificially because it was the highest of colors and, thus, the most suitable for the floor of the Heavens.
However, the theory he was most notorious for had to do with the contagious nature of the Yoma infection. Through experiments he identified that Yoma could be "created" through introducing Yoma flesh and blood into cattle. He found their intellect inferior to natural Yoma, but they possessed the same instincts to hide their true nature while hunting and feeding on their brethren.
He crossed the line and was declared a heretic when he treated a dying man with yoma flesh and blood. The man made a full recovery and then lost the ability to stomach anything but raw meat. The subject was killed by Neptune when he discovered the man whose life he saved having killed his own son and wife. The only member of his family he managed to save was his daughter.
Still, Neptune was driven out, and his own daughter was taken away by the Organization. For a time it is said that he even worked within the Organization. What he did, however, is not known.
It was years later that he reemerged with a new wildly controversial and dangerous thesis--Yoma were not shapeshifting monsters but a disease. It may even be possible to cure it. His main emphasis, however, was on preventing transmission. He believed clean disposal and quarantines could help fight and eventually exterminate the plague.
He took his results to the Holy City of Rabona, to the council of nobles in Lille, to the merchant princes of the Mucha's Grand Mines. They all refused to back or support any of his changes. Several of them such as the cremation of remains and keeping working men isolated and testing them for signs of infection were just not acceptable.
He eventually found a sympathetic patron in the North, but before even a village to village incentivized roll-out could begin he was assassinated. His plans and research forgotten with his death.
It was resurrected by the founder of the Cleansing hand two years after the first "God-touched," Naomi of the Wild Winds, appeared. The founder was one of the early partners of Naomi and was consumed with an obsession about destroying the Yoma. He actually came into contact with Neptune's research in Lille where he sought a poison that would interfere with yoma regeneration.
The effect of the founder presenting Neptune's research and proposals was wildly different then the effect of Neptune presenting it. His words had weight and earned the ear of many with power and influence. Within a year towns all over began the practice of cremating the body parts and victims of yoma murders with the church's blessing, and all implements that had contact with it were either buried or washed and then stored for a year.
Of course, not all of Neptune's ideal code of conduct were implemented. Many found his demand for working men to be segregated and kept away from the crops and livestock for weeks until they could be completely tested too onerous.
Still, decades after Neptune's research had finally borne fruit. It is truly regrettable that the Heretic, who resurrected and spread his teachings far and wide, could not be satisfied with this.
***
Author's Note: I plan to tell the history of the Cleansing Hand in three parts: the start of the movement, its radicalization, and the split of it into the Cleansing Hand and the Red Hand.
Last edited:
