Callie's Heroes

PART VI -

Slowly, sixty-some pairs of recruit eyes, several of staff and officers, another pair belonging to a unicorn, and whatever non-eyes Loki had, swung from Terrin to the tiny, winged dervish standing before them. Pixyl paused for a moment at the mention of the name from her previous life, but only for a moment. She thrust her arms wide, turning slowly to face the entire crowd. Slamming her fists into her chest again, she bellowed, “Are we not entertained?” Then she turned to look across the ring once again, and one could sense pure excitement dripping from her. She pointed straight at the Warlock trainer. “Send them all, ancient one!”

Terrin couldn’t help but laugh at the juvenile taunt, but he played his part, and returned the challenge. “As you wish, your Majesty!” Just to rub it in, he bowed deeply. Quickly he turned to the five warlocks, remembering to mute his sigil this time. “Three Iron Imps from each of you, each about ten seconds apart in mutual waves, and then Vanis, send in a single Iron Tier Fiend at the end.”

“You’re joking!” Tovinen gasped, his eyes going wide. “That many? They’ll kill her!”

“She should have thought of that before she started hurling insults. I don’t take kindly to being called ‘ancient’,” Terrin said with a grin. Then he added, “It will be fine, trust me.”

Looking across the ring where Pixyl was once again rousing up the crowd, Terrin finally caught the Pixie’s eye. They had planned this, or something close to it. He subtly flashed her five fingers three times, followed by a single one. Pixyl nodded minutely, and discreetly pulled the suppression band off her arm, tossing it casually to the side.

“You can still yield, Corporal-Major! And apologize for calling me ancient!” Terrin called out, engaging the crowd a little more himself.

“What? You’re not only old, but a comedian, too?” Pixyl taunted back as she crouched into position.

“Begin!”

Within a few seconds, five Imps materialized and sprang forth. Almost before they had even left the circle, each of the Warlocks began to summon another, in preparation for the next wave.

As the five Imps charged Pixyl, three taking the lead as expected, the tiny Bladeweaver charged in return. A single Ethereal Blast vaporized most of the first. As she ducked the other two trying to grab her, swords sprang to life, cutting each in half at the chest. After a leap into the air with her Flight Telekinetics, Pixyl twisted gracefully, Blasting the forth from above before she landed. The remaining Imp, having lost its prey for a moment, spun, reaching with its claws. But Pixyl simply sliced off its hands, then the arms at the shoulder, and then its head.

The next wave rushed Pixyl just as she kicked the headless Imp away from her. She immediately spun, Blasting two of them, and the two in the rear that were circling closed into the attack. She was out of Ethereal Blast Charges for the moment, but she didn’t have that skill before coming here, and certainly didn’t need it now. She engaged the other three, switching to her shield to send one tumbling while her other sword finished the two. Pixyl laughed. Imps were so ridiculously predictable. They came straight at you, no sense of self preservation, in a way much like the feral animals of the day before.

At the wall, Jesca suddenly whined and turned, sliding quickly down the earthen barrier. The unicorn dropped from its perch, and you could sense the Companion’s sudden worry.

“Jesca!” Callie cried, jumping off the booster she was standing on.

“Just another reveal,” the Cheetahkin growled. “A perk called Mana-Enhanced Senses. Watch Pixyl’s fight, I’ll be fine.”

“You’re sure?”

Jesca nodded, waiting for the inevitable spinning that was coming next.

Callie looked at the others, still standing on the wall, but all looking down worried. “She’ll be fine. A reveal.” As if that explained everything, they each returned to the spectacle in the ring.

As she began to climb back up, a thought occurred to Callie. “Jesca, don’t unlock that perk! If it does what I think, it’s too noisy here.” As if to emphasize that point, another cheer went up from the crowd in response to whatever Pixyl had just done.

Jesca got one final nod of understanding off to her friend, before her world turned inside out. She grabbed a scraggly tuft of grass in each paw and held on tight, willing herself to stay sitting upright. Something moved close and then lay across her lap, keeping her from falling into the sky. “Help not spin,” a clear voice called to Jesca, somehow cutting through the crowd and the sound of blood pumping in her head.

Callie, still worried for her friend, saw the unicorn carefully lay her head on Jesca’s lap. She knew, then, that the Catkin was taken care of, and she finished clambering back onto the booster. Amazed, she looked out on a field of absolute carnage as Pixyl absently decapitated the last Imp standing. “Who the hell is this person?” Callie said quietly, gesturing towards the Pixie, having no idea what to make of this Pixyl she was seeing.

“She’s absolutely amazing!” Ambria said, awestruck.

A roar at the Warlock end grabbed everyone’s attention. For many of the recruits, they recognized what they saw, and for many more, they recognized it from the descriptions they had heard. It was a Fiend, just like the one Pixyl had struck down two weeks previous to save everyone.

But Pixyl was facing away from it, ignoring the roars and working the crowd. The excitement, though, was falling rapidly, as the crowd saw the monster.

“Release,” Terrin called out, his voice amplified and informing everyone, including Pixyl. Vanis sent the mental command before detaching his control. If he needed to, he could retake control, or use Banish, but it would require a few moments. He was now much less worried about his friend than he had been a short time ago, though.

The Fiend raced forward, barreling down on the back of Pixyl. She casually turned, and glared. Raising her hand, she launched a ball of magenta light, which stuck to the Demon’s chest, before she shot a half-dozen meters straight up, hovering in midair. The Fiend, confused that its target was gone, and confused by the sparking ball of Ether on its chest, stopped, trying to brush it away. It then looked skyward and roared in anger.

“Will you shut up!” Pixyl called out in response, before she pumped her fist a single time.

In a flash of light, the Ethereal Bomb exploded, vaporizing at least half of the Fiend, and sending the remaining chunks in all directions, including several over the walls and into the crowd. Silence descended over the watchers, save a few making various ‘ewww’ sounds, as Pixyl slowly floated toward the ground in the center of the circle, meeting Terrin, who had walked from the Warlock end. Olin also joined them, having leapt over the barrier, clapping as he approached.

Pixyl grinned up at the Warlock master and her Lionine trainer as they looked down on her. Terrin knelt, ruffling the Pixie’s hair and putting on a proud grin. Olin knelt as well, and as one, both he and Terrin raised Pixyl’s arms in triumph.

“Corporal-Major Pixyl!” Terrin called out through the sigil, as applause from the crowd rang out.

“The Queen!” someone in the crowd roared back.

Despite what was right before them, nobody could really believe what they had seen, and it certainly was not at all what they were expecting from a demonstration about Demons. Across the ring, chunks of rapidly-dissolving Demon were turning to purple smoke, forcing a few spectators to have to move away from where the light breeze was blowing it away.

“That was fantastic,” Olin said quietly to Pixyl. “When Terrin told me what he had planned, I had my doubts, but I let myself trust him. It was all I could do not to leap in and help, and if I had, I never would have seen that.”

Terrin leaned down, one hand tapping the sigil silent, while the other slipped the Pixie a blue mana potion. “Better than when I saw you in the Pits, Pixyl. Olin’s training you’ve received is showing.”

“Thanks,” Pixyl replied, blushing with the praise. “But, they were only Iron.”

“Only?” Olin asked, with surprise on his face. “You were taking on five at a time! In multiple waves, at that.”

The Pixie replied with a simple shrug, looking up at Olin. “With what I know now? I could probably take a Gold Fiend. Maybe even a Gold Netherhound.”

“You think? You were slipping into some of your old swordplay habits. I’m not sure you caught that.”

Pixyl nodded. “I noticed. They are good for p-p-putting on a show, but not real combat.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll work on it this week.”

“Speaking of, we still need to demonstrate Fiends, let’s not forget. I think we’ll stick with Iron, though.” Terrin said as he stood.

Rising and padding the air to quiet the crowd, Terrin tapped the sigil and sought to regain control. “Thank you all. You must forgive Corporal-Major Pixyl and myself for deciding to put on a little show to at least add some fun to what I’m sure you can see is serious business. You did see how the Imps fought, right? You did think about how you would handle them if encountered on the field, right?”

A general murmur went up around the crowd as they considered the lesson that had been part of the entertainment. Imps were fierce, but feral and unthinking. Three or more and they use pack tactics. The lessons were there, seared into their thinking by watching their tiny fellow recruit show them all how it’s done.

“What did I miss?” Jesca mumbled as she stood, still seeming a little woozy.

“Just Pixyl being utterly awesome!” Callie said with an excited, gleeful bounce. “She took on, like … what … fifteen of them at once!”

“Plus the Fiend,” Ambria added.

“Yeah! Plus a Fiend!” Callie echoed excitedly.

“Are you feeling better?” Lhawni asked.

Jesca nodded. “I am. I’m tired of reveals, though. I hope it’s done. With my luck today, there’s more to go, though.”

“Lunch is soon, at least,” Lhawni pointed out. “They should be done by then, right?”

Jesca could only shrug as she returned her eyes to her friend in the center ring.

“Next, we will properly demonstrate a Fiend,” Terrin called out, silencing the chatter as he shifted into obvious instructor mode. “In many ways, they are like Imps. But they are a little larger, heavier, and able to take some punishment. They are smarter too, bright enough to dodge blows, and tend to make a lot of noise to try and intimidate, functioning more as a Guardian. But strip the size and noise away, and really they are just big, tough Imps.”

The center of the ring cleared, Olin joining the Warlocks at the far end, while Pixyl retrieved her discarded suppression bracelet, wrapping it around her wrist again. She had taken a potion, she was feeling good, the crowd was excited, and the sun wasn’t even in her eyes. She smashed a fist into her hand and crouched in anticipation. It was time for the Queen to let loose Pixie hell.