Kitsune of the Blue Sun

Chapter 52- Finally, some Bandits

[Keeno POV]

Over the next week, Pram and I had pretty much foregone entering any city we passed.  Like this we got ever closer to the river where we’d take a ride to Vanir.  We mostly kept to the road while using the map and advice from Ama to move in an expedient way around the cities.  Aside from that, the scenery around us was absolutely stunning.  We passed through a few small forests with trees full of small flowers that would create a rain of petals at the smallest of breezes.  Another time we passed a through a large field of reeds that looked like a shallow sea.  At night the sky was cloudless, and we could see all the stars so clearly that it was almost like a painting.

Every night the pretty purple fireflies would appear in large numbers and add another level of beauty to the nature around us.  At one point I even tried to go and catch a few in a jar I had, but they were surprisingly fast to get away from me.  The night I tried that both Ama and Pram laughed at me while Huginn and Muninn looked at me with what looked like pity, clearly saying they were worried that I couldn’t even catch some insignificant bugs.  Getting fed up with that look, I told the two to try themselves and they failed just as much as I did, much to their bewilderment.  It was three days after that event and now we were about two days from seeing the city where we were going to find a boat to take us to Vanir.  We were walking through a field of grass taller than the tips of my ears.

“Pram, you hear it too, right?” (Keeno)

“I do.  What do we do?” (Pram)

“Depends on what they want.  If it’s just some bandits, then we’ll either fight or give them the slip, if it’s something else, we’ll probably end up fighting.  We just have to wait and see.” (Keeno)

{By the way, feel free to kill them if it’s bandits.  As long as Keeno delivers the killing blow, they won’t return as undead.}

“…” (Pram)

“…” (Keeno)

{Keeno, you’ve prepared yourself for this, mentally speaking.  There is no need to feel bad, if a mortal stoops low enough to become a bandit, then they deserve whatever is coming to them.  And besides, you’ll have to end the lives of people at some point and get desensitized to it, you’ll judge much worse once you come into your full Authority of Death.  I know I sound cold, but it’s the truth.}

“I know.” (Keeno)

As soon as I said that Pram and I entered a clearing in the tall grass.  As soon as we reached the center of the clearing a small group of people of various races came out of the tall grass surrounding us.

“Well, well, well, two lovely ladies all on their lonesome.”

“Keheheh.  Boss, shall we let them accompany us for some fun?  If so, mind if I teach the spotted one some things?  She looks…fresh.”

“You know how we do things, be the first to capture her and she’s yours.”

“Gahaha.  Then I’m goin fer the foxy.  She seems feisty and I always like them cold beauty types, though I think I’ll scoop out those creepy eyes first.  They the most fun to break.”

{Keeno, torch them to their very souls.}

‘Don’t have to tell me twice.’ (Keeno)

One of the bandits perked up a little when me and Ama shared that small interaction.

“Boss…I don’t think this is a good idea.”

“Eh?  Why are YOU of all of us bowing out now?  Aren’t you the worst of us lot when it comes to this?”

“You don’t get it, Boss, the fox is-!!!”

One of my Soul Weapons then embedded itself in the angel’s throat before he could finish his warning.

“Pram, ring your bell.  Let it be their funeral dirge.” (Keeno)

“May the Goddess of Death have mercy on your souls.” (Pram)

“Not a chance.” (Keeno)

“Oh well, it was worth a try.” (Pram)

I pulled back on the chain and my sword that was still stuck in the angel’s throat came flying back to me, leaving a flaming trail behind it and a smoldering hole in the angel.  He fell to the ground, his wings and halo flickering until eventually they went out.  Seeing one of their comrades being killed so easily, the bandits were frozen in shock.  They were only brought out of their stupor by the sound of Pram’s bell which rung out in the clearing with a crisp chime.

“Sh-she killed him!?”

“And the rest of you are going to follow him soon.” (Keeno)

With the ringing of Pram’s bell as a backdrop, I flung both of my swords out as far as the chains would let them and spun around a few times, igniting the tall grass.  Most of the bandits dodged them, while another one got hit a few times, the death magic coating the blades causing him to fall to the ground writhing in pain.  As the grass was dry, the fire started to spread quickly, trapping the bandits in the clearing with us.

“Girlie, you don’t know what you’ve just done.  We were going to give you and your pretty little friend here a good time, but now you’ve just sealed your fate.”

“Oh please, don’t think you can hide your fear.  I can see you shaking in your boots as we speak.  Now, let’s finish this quickly.” (Keeno)

I waved my tail behind me, signaling Huginn and Muninn to take care of the bandit slowly dying from my last attack while I concentrated on the remaining ones.  Them, being idiots, thought it was a good idea to come at us one at a time.  He swung his shoddily made axe down at me and I sidestepped his attack.  I circled around him, wrapping his arms in one of my chains and started channeling mana into it.

“AAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!”

The smell of burning flesh filled the area, overpowering the smell of burning grass.  The chains burned hot enough that they soon sliced through the bandit’s wrists until all that was left were two blackened stumps.  The bandit fell to his knees in shock.

{Keeno, keep a few alive so you can try making that one spell you said you wanted to work on.}

“Got it.” (Keeno)

It was at that time when another of the bandits ran at me.  I prepared to counter whatever attack he was going to make, but he changed trajectory and aimed an attack at Pram.

“Not on my watch.” (Keeno)

I flung one of my swords at the bandit’s legs, stabbing into on the back of his knee.

“GAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!”

I pulled the chain taught and he fell face first into the dirt.  Just as I was pulling on the chain to get my sword back, Huginn came flying by my head and into the eye of another bandit that was taking advantage of my momentary opening.  Said bandit fell to the ground, his face in a silent scream of pain as he writhed.  I got my blade back and quickly stooped down, slitting his throat.  With him dead, only three bandits remained.

“Boss, we should run.  If we make it to a city, we can turn this around and get these monsters for murder.”

“Oh?  Are you saying you haven’t killed people?  How very unbandit like.” (Keeno)

“Idiot, if we killed someone, we’d be hunted down by the King’s pet Dragon.  All we ever did was have ‘fun’ with women before they offed themselves.”

“There is no difference.” (Pram)

“In the eyes of the King, there is, seeing as we’re still around.”

With that, the three remaining bandits tried to run, but the fire that was burning all around us flared up in any direction they tried.

“Well, I guess I’ll be meeting this dragon before I get to Vanir.” (Keeno)

I manipulated the fire in front of the bandits and caused some small tongues of flame to scorch their limbs, immobilizing them.

“Pram, be a dear and numb their pain, please.” (Keeno)

“Alright.  What about the one who passed out because you got his knee?” (Pram)

“His too.” (Keeno)

Pram’s bell stopped ringing and she moved over to the bandits who were writhing on the ground in pain as I dragged the unconscious one over next to his companions.  Once Pram was done doing her thing, all four remaining were lined up neatly in a row.

“Now, time for some experimentation.  Pram, I’ll be setting a barrier around you since I don’t want you to get caught up in any stray shots that may happen.  Huginn, Muninn, stay with her too.” (Keeno)

All three of them moved behind me and I set up a barrier with Death magic being the main component, hoping that it would cancel out any stray effects my magic would have.  I then returned my attention to the bandits.

I held my and in front of me and started to concentrate on my palm.  There, I made a small ball of Death magic.  Then, I began to charge it with more mana, causing the ball to slowly grow larger.

{Keeno, you need to concentrate more and go slower, going this fast will cause it to warp and explode in your face.}

I didn’t react to Ama’s words, but slowly reduced the speed of mana input.  By the time the ball was the size of a watermelon, I stopped adding mana to it.  I then tried to condense the ball.  It very slowly started to shrink. When it got to the point where it was about the size of my head, sparks of black lightning started to come out of the ball and it started to get unstable.

{Keeno, throw it now!}

I tossed the ball at one of the bandits and jumped back behind the barrier I made and started to pour more mana into it.  Once the ball hit the bandit, it expanded rapidly, covering all four of them and, for a brief moment, the area around the bandits went photo negative.  When things went back to normal, the bandits, grass, and ground around them started crumbling into dust, permanent screams of agony on their faces.

“…” (Keeno)

“…” (Pram)

{You got impatient, Keeno.  Once you are absolutely proficient in condensing magic like that is when you can go that fast.}

“Hmm.” (Keeno)

I nodded my head before sitting down.

“Keeno?” (Pram)

“…So this is how bad purifying black souls is…I’m glad I spent so much time getting used to it.” (Keeno)

{Keeno, I know what I said earlier, but just because they won’t turn into undead doesn’t mean you shouldn’t burn the corpses.}

I nodded and made a few fireballs to burn the corpses that didn’t get caught up in the Death magic.

“We’ll rest here for a bit, then we can move on.” (Keeno)

“Alright.  Anything you need me to do?” (Pram)

“Some calming magic would be nice, I feel really shaky.” (Keeno)

“Calming magic, coming right up.” (Pram)

“Thanks.  Hey Ama, am I really going to have to fight a dragon soon?” (Keeno)

[Eblana POV]

“Kufufu.  Don’t worry, little fox, you’ve piqued my interest, so I won’t stop you.  Continue to grow stronger, if you do, I’ll offer you a contract.”

Chaos Realm:

Pffft.

Order: Hehe.

Silly dragon.

Atmos: …I was going to ask what was so funny, but I think I can see where this is going, and I’m loving it.

Sorry for giving something like that away, Atmos, it was just so ironically funny that I couldn’t help but laugh.

Atmos: No worries, I totally understand.

Order: Aside from the irony, I’m really looking forward to those two meeting, even if it won’t happen for a long time.

Atmos: I have no idea when or how it’s going to happen, but I DO know that I need to be here to witness it as well.

I’ll make sure to call you over then.

Atmos: Heh.  Looking forward to it.