No Need for a Core?

Kazue groaned softly as she stirred awake. She did not know how Mordecai and Moriko kept so energetic every morning. Well, Mordecai was a cheater from the start, but Moriko was up early and chipper every morning too. It made her grumpy.

What made her a little less grumpy was that shortly after sitting up, she got handed a mug of honey-drenched tea and then a pack of jerked meat to chew on at her leisure. Kept her from biting either of them. For now.

Having each of them settle next to her and snuggle close for a little while might have been helping too, along with having a purring Carnelian Flame in her lap. But just a little bit. She wasn't willing to admit to more than that yet.

Once Kazue had eaten enough to feel like a person again, she gave both of them a thank-you kiss, cuddled Carnelian briefly, and then got up to get ready for the day. She was never much of a morning person, but the continuous pace of a nexus expedition made it all worse. At least the break in the dryad's grove had helped for a little bit, but she still had to increase her medicine to twice her normal dose.

There was just so much to keep track of over the course of all their battles that she felt like she burned through her first pill by noon, so she took another one after she ate lunch. There wouldn't be time to consult with Moriko's parents about modifying her dose until after Deidre was safe. Well, technically, there was time, but not enough to go over everything in depth. So this would have to do for now. She was glad Moriko's parents had spent so much time improving her medicine previously. That original tea had made her feel like she was vibrating whenever she had to up her dose. And when she was just chewing on leaves of the plant her mother used, the flavor lingered for what felt like forever. Even if they were not perfect, these pills were much better.

Once they were packed up, it was time to move out for another round of monsters and mayhem. Bleh. Kazue really hated some of the creepier creatures they had been fighting lately; these were definitely not cute in any way! And to make it all worse, they stank when they died. It was like rotting eggs, but the stench clung to you even after you left.

The path they were on had been set by going through the valley with the fae encampment, but given the vast expanse of Dersuta's territory, there had to be dozens of other parallel routes leading south from his northern border.

Well, they were leaving that giant valley now, but Kazue wasn't sure she was much happier about their current environment. The exit from the valley led downward still, into a peculiar canyon. The walls were made of no stone she knew of, and they had strange angles almost like facets, but they were clearly not crystalline.

Combined with the odd combinations of clashing colors and patterns, the effect was rather disorienting, and it was also clearly the anchor for some form of mental attack. Kazue was too attuned to the flux between waking dreams and reality to be caught in the illusions or distracted by the indistinct whispers seeming to promise something enticing, but not all of their members were so resilient.

Derek was their weak point here, and Kazue found herself having to frequently disrupt the spell patterns that tried to settle into his brain. He was their youngest member, and for all of his training, he'd had no real experience with this sort of mental assault — besides Shizoku, Kazue amended, but that wasn't quite the same thing. Kazue whispered a message to her other self to make sure to fix that deficit soon.

Doing so amused her a little; a year ago, she would not have imagined herself analyzing faults in the training their nexus provided and working on solutions without feeling the need to consult with Mordecai first.

Their next weakest link was Fuyuko, though she was proving fairly resilient. This disturbed Kazue a bit, as it meant Shizoku had endured harsh enough training to be notably stronger in this area despite being a year younger. Did she want to know what training Aia had inflicted on the girl?

Carnelian, Sparks, and Fintan seemed to be buffered by their connections to Kazue, Moriko, and Ruby, and did not require any further protection against the mental assault.

Tension built as they traveled without direct confrontation, just the ever-growing pressure of the mental assault in this bizarre and alien landscape. Hmm. Kazue murmured an ongoing description of the experience to her core, partly to master the sub-vocalization exercises that Mordecai had taught, but also to help organize her thoughts as she sought to find the pattern here.

Stories from her time as a shrine maiden and information she had learned from Mordecai over the past year mingled and brewed as she poked at the recent encounters.

They had been facing the sort of enhanced and modified creatures that might be created by more malevolent fey or similar beings. The false undead that they had encountered yesterday were sort of a next step along that theme, though with the sort of corruption that you might find approaching the far edges of the fae portion of the Other Side. Not necessarily undead, but where the Other Side overlapped with the void was where things that disliked mortal life tended to dwell.

This environment felt twisted too, but it wasn't the same sort of corruption. Or false corruption, she supposed. It had a strange sort of harmony, but unlike fey creatures, this harmony was at odds with nature and the natural world. It set out to impose its own will on the order of things, and defied how everything else lived in the world.

It was very arrogant.

Oh no.

Kazue's sudden gasp of shock as she made the connection seemed to set the world into motion. Giant flying insects that looked like the worst possible combination of a fly and a hornet oozed out of cracks in the walls that should have been far too small for them, and immediately set to swarm the party.

They carried with them a miasma that reeked of brimstone, but these were not demonic creatures. Where mortal souls could corrupt into demons, it was the fey who could be corrupted into devils.

The stench of the devil insects made her physically ill, their bodies all glistened with some caustic oil, and she had no doubt that those wicked barbed stingers held potent toxins. But these were just the vanguard; a chaotic swarm designated to delay and disorient the party while doing as much damage as possible.

The canyon floor was littered with insect bodies when the swarm finally broke and flew off, but it was not from demoralization. It was to get out of the way of the squadron of devils marching toward them. Rank and file like mortal soldiers, with a mix of rock-skinned and barb-covered devils making up the front lines and carrying short spears and shields, while the ones behind them held longer spears. All of their weapons had wicked-looking barbs and large hooks, designed to catch and tear at flesh and to pull people apart from each other.

But they couldn't refuse to engage — the next ranks of devils held glowing, odd-looking javelins, and Kazue had no doubt they could throw those elementally infused weapons far enough to contend with mortal bows, at the least.

A wave of healing rolled out from Mordecai just before he leapt up into the air to take on his battle form and charge. The vitalizing prayer helped, but almost the entire group was still fighting the noxious effects of the insect devils as they raggedly pulled themselves together. Kansif, Bellona, Paltira, Moriko, and of course Mordecai seemed to be the only ones who could completely ignore the effects, and were quick to form a new front line while everyone else lagged behind.

The aggression was necessary. Mordecai had charged ahead in order to draw the spear throwers into attacking him, but even his battle form could only take so much punishment. Kazue felt guilty that it was taking her these precious moments to respond, but thankfully, they had Shizoku with them. The little alchemist witch was shoving hastily mixed vials into everyone's hands, and swigging down the contents immediately made Kazue feel better. It was almost enough to make Kazue take back her wry thoughts about Shizoku from earlier.

By the time everyone was able to join the attack, Mordecai had already been forced to land in the center of the devil squadron. But his landing came at great cost to the devils, as he immediately unleashed an assault of magic and attacked everything near him with abandon. He spun and whirled in dazzling displays of grace, his movements continually flowing as his tails unleashed foxfire and his claws raked open devil flesh, and a single unguarded moment was all it took for him to steal a spear from his enemies and use it against them.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

But there were many devils around him, and he could not avoid every spear thrust or stinger-tipped tail. Wounds began to quickly accumulate as the attacks began breaking through his scales.

Kazue wrenched her gaze away from the rapid exchange of blows, for Mordecai was taking almost as much damage as he inflicted.

Instead, she focused on the still solid front line of devils, keeping most of them from aiding Mordecai directly. She moved up behind Amrydor and Yugo to support them, as they moved to fill the position that Moriko had been holding.

This allowed Moriko to take to the air without leaving a gap in their line, and she immediately launched herself to aid Mordecai, her familiar flying beside her.

Kazue's war spirit was of limited help at the moment, with others between her and immediate violence, but she still had the rest of her magic available. Illusions of dreams and things that might have been were conjured to distract and dismay their foes, but this first form of attack only proved somewhat effective.

A moment later, she remembered that these were not true devils. They did not have friends and families they had abandoned, or morals they had rejected, oaths they had broken, or any other such ties to a previous existence. That limited the effectiveness of any magic meant to stir up any conflict by dredging up traces of their past selves.

But physical illusions still worked well enough, as did tossing her fox fire past her allies, and she did have some basic attack spells at her command. Creating arcs of lightning or throwing shards of ice were satisfying, if less dramatic than some of her dream-based magic. And most importantly, her ability to place personal wards on others instead of on herself.

She hadn't needed to use that trick much, but this battle was a perfect place for it.

Carnelian was zipping back and forth along the front line, spitting balls of fire as often as her stamina and energy allowed, while Ruby's familiar Fintan took his time gliding back and forth, looking for places to dispense gouts of his phoenix fire, healing allies and searing the false devils at the same time.

A sudden pulse of void magic in the middle of the devils drew her attention, and she found the withered remains of devils scattered around a now much healthier looking Mordecai. Oh, he'd been counting on being able to draw their vitality into himself.

Several of Mordecai's tails slapped across the center of the devil's front line with explosions of foxfire, staggering and pushing the devils he hit. This broke their formation, which was swiftly taken advantage of. Amrydor's war scythe opened the throat of one devil before smashing into the shoulder of another one, which kept it from avoiding Bellona's axe.

None of this came without cost. Weapons had been blunted and chipped on stone-hard skin; and spears had pierced even Bellona's fortified armor which the devils then twisted, breaking off their barbed tips and leaving them embedded in flesh.

The swarm of insects returned then, but they were prepared. Mordecai let loose with a broad gout of black flame that turned a large swath of the insects to ash, and Kazue conjured her own swarm; semi-real pixies created of light and dreams that streaked to engage the insects, joining the magic cast by Shizoku, Takehiko, Ruby, and Orchid.

It only took a few more minutes to finish the remaining devils off, but the experience left Kazue shaken. Everyone was bleeding, and more than a few of the bleeding wounds also oozed puss or dripped ichor of the wrong color. They needed to clean and heal wounds, and she felt taxed just from this one battle.

Which was only their first battle of the day.

She ignored that thought and focused on the tasks at hand.

It took more than an hour for everyone to be ready to move again, and even then, they were in worse shape than before. There was only so much that could be done for weapons and armor without spending mana that might be needed during the battles ahead.

The fights were as bad as Kazue had feared. This first one had been mostly physical in nature, but the next three squadrons specialized in fire, ice, and lightning, respectively. Mordecai took the brunt of the attacks, but the fighting had gotten vicious, and the elemental attacks had all been infused with magic that made them linger. Kazue never wanted to feel ice and lightning actively trying to bury themselves deeper into her flesh again.

The final battle was against four smaller squads of the same sort of compositions as the large ones, along with another swarm of the insects, and all led by a general — a four-armed giant of a devil wielding a whip and a spear in his upper hands, and bearing shields on his lower arms.

Between his oppressive aura and the magically domineering pressure of the devil's booming voice, Derek and Shizoku were utterly unable to participate in the fight. When the devil general commanded everyone to prostrate themselves and surrender, the pair were immediately forced to their knees, though they were at least able to resist doing anything more than that. Kazue wasn't certain if she'd have been forced to join them if she didn't have the protection of her title of faerie queen. Faerie queens do not take readily to being commanded.

Fuyuko fared better than her younger friends did, though the effort forced her into her battle frenzy. Thankfully, the training she'd been through enabled Fuyuko to remain somewhat lucid. "Fuyuko!" Kazue called out, pointing at Shizoku and Derek. "Defend!" She hated giving her daughter commands like that, but in this state, Fuyuko wasn't able to understand anything more complicated.

Amrydor, Yugo, and Taeko had also struggled to resist that command, so they too fell back to be guards, and Kazue stayed with them, along with Ruby. And this time, Thunder and Lightning did not follow Moriko into battle; she had ordered them to stay with Kazue, rather than risk the young dragon to this many devils.

Mordecai maintained his position in the front, but as he launched himself forward this time, he took on his full war form. His massive dragon body twisted to create a vortex as he sped past the devil armies, sending spinning air blades in every direction as he went.

With his speed and direct travel, there was no way for him to avoid the general's spear. Kazue watched with horror as the spear erupted from the back of one of his shoulders while the heavy thorned whip wrapped around one of his limbs on the other side.

But this too, seemed to be part of his plan. The general was still briefly staggered by taking the impact of Mordecai's charge on his shields, and Mordecai took advantage of that moment to twist around with little care for how much that aggravated his wounds. He grasped each of the weapons with his free hands before the general could wrench them free of Mordecai's body, and then he kicked off of the general's shields to shove the two of them apart.

Between the weapons being embedded in his body and his grasp on the weapons, Mordecai had the stronger hold of them, and his kick yanked the weapons out of the general's hands as Mordecai flew back to land amidst the smaller devils.

The devils launched their own attacks immediately, of course, but Mordecai paid them minimal attention for a moment as he gestured and quickly cast a spell.

All around Mordecai, every manifestation of magical power struggled against a surge of magic suppression. Then the two weapons disappeared, and Mordecai smirked. The blasted man had deliberately let himself be injured so that he could steal the weapons, suppress their magic and connection to the general, and then transfer them into his storage ring.

But Kazue couldn't afford to spend any more attention watching her madman of a husband injure himself. Neither his dash nor the charge of people behind him had taken up the attention of all of the devils, and far too many javelins were being launched their way, followed by the swarm of insects.

It was the goriest and most agonizing fight Kazue had ever been in. Even when they had been purging the out-of-control growth corruption, it had not hurt this much, even if she had worn herself out more.

Desperation had allowed Derek to move enough to help guard Shizoku, but despite his armor, one of the insect devils managed to nearly bite his hand off. The mangled limb was not responding well to healing at the moment, and Shizoku was working herself into a frenzy making sure that the wound was purged of any toxin or disease, while Fintan hovered nearby to provide a continuous source of white phoenix flame.

Thankfully, with the three champions-in-training present and Kazue's defensive spells, neither of the pair had been hit directly by any of the javelins, but all of them were marked by the explosions each javelin made when they landed, whether they hit a person or the ground.

Kazue chose to ignore what she'd seen Fuyuko do to any of the insects that had come within her reach. Being a carnivore in a battle frenzy excused a lot, but Kazue couldn't imagine that the devil bugs had tasted good. It was unfortunate that Fuyuko didn't have enough mental focus to use her bow or guns when she was in a battle frenzy.

Everyone was moving slowly, and several people had collapsed from exhaustion as soon as the fighting had stopped, but they had won.

Even Mordecai was looking worse for wear. She'd seen more glimpses of his fight with the general, and it had been brutal. When Mordecai had disarmed the general of his shields, he'd had to make the term somewhat literal as he ripped the general's elbow apart, but then the general's arms had grown back shortly after.

He'd also set off multiple large spells, centered on himself, to keep from being swarmed by the devils, but he'd still been attacked from behind the entire time he'd battled the general.

Now he was nearly out of mana and refused to use any to heal his wounds until he'd helped see to everyone else's needs.

When they finally trudged out of the canyon and left the pervading scent of brimstone behind them, it was nearly dark, but they still needed to set up a safe campsite. Summoning up dregs of mana to give to Mordecai was a struggle, but he and Derek eventually managed to finish working and conjuring stone into the same shape they'd used before. There was no way they were going to be moving on the next day; they needed a full day of rest to finish recovering from that grueling fight.