As the oni woman drew her sword and took up a combat stance, Fenrir eyed her closely. She was easily the highest level being he had encountered so far, and he could see several scars scattered across the little of her skin that was exposed, indicating extensive combat experience. 'As if the way she's handling that sword doesn't already give it away. Speaking of which, why the actual fuck do these oni have Japanese-style armor and weapons? I'm starting to think isekais are fairly common for there to be this many parallels between our worlds.' He pulled his axe from his back, grimacing internally at how foreign it felt in his hands. 'And Gdiatrix? Fuck it, why don't we just give her a Sioux war bonnet too, and call it a day? Why does she have a Latin css name?' He shook himself out of his internal monologue as the woman changed her stance, giving her one st once-over with God's Eye.

  Spoiler

  (Image by yoclesh)

  [colpse]Katari kor-AqunFemale Oni (Oness)Gdiatrix Lvl 28Status: Curious, CautiousAbilities: Focus, Imbue Weapon, Weapon Disciplines: Stone Bear, Dancing Jaguar, Striking CobraKinks/Fetishes:masochist – aroused by her own defeatDisposition Towards User:apprehensive of his potential strength - respects his cool and collected demeanor - wonders who and what he is

  Her golden eyes surveyed him cautiously from under snow-white bangs which were in turn split by the two horns which grew from her forehead, extending upwards perhaps six inches. Her armor made it difficult to discern much more about her figure, but her height was impossible to hide, only a little over five feet in direct contrast to the seven to eight feet of most of her compatriots. Her thigh-length hair billowed freely behind her in the slight breeze before it stilled.

  There came a moment of dead silence, as the world itself seemed to pause. 'The breath before the plunge,' a distant part of Fenrir's mind observed. Then he read in her eyes the intention of movement, and as one they leaped towards each other.

  Even with his inhuman speed, the small oni dodged his first swing, the axe passing harmlessly through empty air bare inches from her face. Before he could recover, she sshed him sharply across the shoulder and leaped free. He jumped back as well, fully aware that only the st-second shifting of his shoulder had saved his throat from her blow. The wound burned, but it was not debilitating. Without wasting a moment he leaped forwards again to meet her next attack. Steel cshed against steel as she deflected his axe, but her answering strike found only air. This time, the direwolf only withdrew far enough to avoid her bde before stepping forwards again, hoping to smother her under his strength and weight. The white-haired girl was surprisingly slippery however, and his attempts only gained him another two wounds across his chest and arm.

  Fenrir leaped clear again, giving himself a moment to breathe. His opponent swung her sword in a sharp motion, ridding the bde of excess blood, and reassumed her stance. 'She's damn good. No way in hell am I going to beat her using an unfamiliar weapon when the one she's using may as well be an extension of her body. Oh well.' With a quick twist of his wrist, he embedded the head of his axe partially in the dirt and stepped forwards without it.

  Opposite him, Katari's eyes widened, and her stance briefly faltered. Then comprehension dawned, and she said, almost to herself, "I wondered about the wounds on the yeti."

  The wolf shrugged his massive shoulders. "I hope you do not feel insulted that I chose not to begin at my strongest."

  She gave him a peculiar look. "You are only fortunate you did not underestimate me any more severely. I almost had you in the first csh."

  He inclined his head in acknowledgement, and a moment ter they met again with a speed that the eye struggled to follow. Her sword rebounded off the cws of one hand while with the other he sshed at her torso. She twisted away from the strike, but not quickly enough to entirely avoid him, a shriek of cws on metal resounding across the courtyard and a portion of her shoulder guard falling to the ground as the cords which held it together were severed. He pushed his advantage, keeping her on the defensive as she struggled to deflect all his attacks. But his inexperience betrayed him again, and she found an opening which id his right forearm open to the bone. Dancing free, she took a ready stance, her breathing heavy, but measured.

  Fenrir recentered himself opposite her, smelling blood which was not his own. A gnce at Katari's arm revealed the cause; his strike had done more than damage her shoulder guard. A small victory, but only a superficial wound. He would need far more than that to win this duel. As they re-engaged, Fenrir lifted one hand to deflect a ssh, but activating Sand in the Hourgss to give himself more time to react, he retracted his cws at the st possible moment, allowing the bde to pass uncontested as he tilted his body to the side to avoid the sword's path. Unprepared for the ck of resistance, Katari over-extended herself before she could stop her swing and Fenrir used the opening to deliver the first meaningful wound he had given her in this duel.

  She gasped and stumbled back, one hand to her side where his cws had found purchase. Then her face hardened, and she raised her sword again, eyes suddenly seeming to bze with a cold light as she closed the distance between them with a rush. Fenrir found himself entirely on the back foot as she rained blows upon him, moving quickly enough that even he struggled to keep up with her. She opened several wounds on his hands and arms, unable to slip entirely past his defenses, but still too fast for him to fully parry her every strike. In desperation he again slowed time, attuning himself to the Shark to increase his strength as he leveled a mighty swing at the diminutive oni. She blocked it with her sword, but the sheer force of the blow almost ripped the bde from her grasp and sent her spinning across the ground.

  She came to a halt on one knee, slightly disoriented, but before she could collect herself Fenrir struck again, this time fully knocking her sword from her hands and sending her tumbling. As she came to a halt he pounced atop her, ying his cws to the side of her neck and saying, "Submit."

  She reached for the knife in her belt, but he quickly trapped her arm with his free hand and pressed his cws more closely to her throat, one razor edge causing a line of red to appear on her neck.

  "Submit," he commanded again.

  The oni struggled, but she was helpless. "Kill me then," she said, looking up at him in resignation.

  "No. Concede the duel." Fenrir's voice was calm, but authoritative.

  "..." She looked away. "...I yield. You are the victor." Raising her voice so all could hear, she shouted, "Release the captive!"

  He stood, releasing Katari. Their surroundings, entirely ignored throughout the course of the duel, suddenly reasserted themselves in his awareness in the form of a collective groan from the oni about them and cheers and excmations of concern from the succubi, who now hurried towards him.

  Before they reached him, however, a roar of anger attracted everyone's attention. "I knew the runt wasn't worthy of being raid-chief! Now she has lost us all our plunder!"

  From the corner of his eye Fenrir saw the small oni flush, shame spreading across her countenance. He turned to the unruly bull which had shouted this, noting that he was the same one who had interrupted them earlier. "She is a greater warrior than you," he stated ftly.

  "You dare?!" the belligerent one bellowed.

  "I dare. More than this, I maintain that if you had had the balls to duel me yourself, I would have defeated you without sustaining a single injury."

  This taunt was too much. Losing his temper, the bull rushed him, sword raised. Ducking under the powerful and almost entirely uncontrolled swing of his new opponent, with one clenched fist Fenrir delivered a crashing blow to the oni's jaw that lifted him clear of the ground and threw him backwards to nd sprawling in the dirt nearly twenty feet away. He did not get up.

  "Is there anyone else who wants to contest my cim?" Fenrir snarled, looking around at the oni about him.

  They did not move. One of the rger bulls said in a deep rumble, "The plunder is rightly yours, by the terms of the challenge-duel. Vashedin was a fool and has lost much honor by his hasty actions. I give you respect, stranger. You are a mighty warrior indeed to defeat the white tigress."

  Fenrir gnced back down at the oni at his feet. She had made no effort to stand, only having pushed herself to a sitting position. Her face was still flushed, and he suddenly discerned among the various scents in the courtyard the unmistakable odor of arousal. His momentary confusion gave way to comprehension as he recalled one of her fetishes, but putting that detail aside for the present, he turned his attention back to the bull. "Does your cn have resources to trade?"

  "You wish to trade with us?" The rge oni seemed surprised.

  "Perhaps, if you have resources I desire. At the very least, I have no time to waste on pointless hostilities between us." As he spoke Nelith stepped up beside him, her eyes running over his injuries with a concerned scowl. She did not interrupt, however.

  "Let me propose this. Tonight, you camp here, and tomorrow you go back to the rest of your cn with a gift from me. If it pleases your chief, we can open dialogue about trading. How far is your cn from here?"

  "Perhaps three days of travel, for a strong bull," he said. After a moment of consideration he continued, "Your suggestion is wise. We will do as you propose."

  "Very well. You may set up your camp in that corner of the yard," Fenrir told them, steeling himself against a rush of weakness as the strength granted to him by the Shark Spirit left his muscles.

  With respectful nods the oni took their leave, two bulls dragging the unconscious Vashedin between them. Katari, however, remained where she was. Fenrir looked down at her inquisitively. "The duel is over. Why do you remain here?"

  She turned reproachful eyes upon him. "Surely you know why."

  "I am afraid my education about the oni was greatly abbreviated. I do not know."

  "I challenged you to a duel and you defeated me but spared my life. By the code of the oni I am now beholden to you until I repay my debt." She shifted uncomfortably.

  "What if I don't want your service?"

  "Then to satisfy my honor, I must die." She reached for the knife at her belt.

  "Hold on there, that was a rhetorical question." He examined her closely for several moments, as she fidgeted under his gaze. "I do have use for you. Would you say you are a great swordswoman?"

  She blushed. "I... Yes."

  "Good. Now stand and follow me. Kira, could you retrieve her sword?"

  "Sure, boss," Kira replied, gncing doubtfully at Katari. She collected the sword from where it had nded and uprooted Fenrir's axe as well, bringing both weapons to him.

  "Thank you," he said, pcing his axe upon his back and passing the oni's sword back to her. Nelith made a movement as if to protest, but changed her mind. They passed into the castle proper in silence, a silence which was abruptly broken by the succubi who met them just inside.

  "I'm sorry, Master, we couldn't find Chellise anywhere and then we saw she'd gotten caught and you told Lilli we had to stay in the castle and-" Yumiko was almost in tears.

  "Whoa, settle down there," Fenrir interrupted. "You couldn't have known she decided to go for a walk. Though on that note, we have been a bit careless. Hereafter, if you go anywhere, make sure someone knows where to find you. Clear?" He looked around at all of them, receiving a nod from each.

  "Never mind that, we need to get you patched up," Lilli said firmly, pushing him into the kitchens.

  He submitted without resistance to her wishes, looking up at Nelith as he took a seat on the hearth. "Take whoever you need and put together a sample of the supplies the Vigil brought with them for the oni gift. Better to get that out of the way immediately."

  "Will do, Chief. But ter, we need to talk." Selecting Aimi and Koreen, she left the room with them.

  Chellise sidled up to him, looking uncharacteristically subdued. "I'm sorry I got caught, Daddy," she said in a small voice. "I wasn't paying attention and then they were just suddenly there."

  "Don't worry about it, little one," he told her gently, suppressing a wince and hissing slightly as Lilli bound a deep wound on his arm. "It all turned out all right in the end." He blinked as a thought occurred to him. "Where's Safara?"

  "I'm here," the elf in question replied, stepping forward from the corner where she had been sitting. Her face was still white and drawn.

  "Do you think you can heal these? A couple go pretty deep, but they're all even cuts."

  "I'll do my best," she said quietly, beginning to weave the spell with hands that shook slightly. Lilli desisted in her efforts, watching Safara's movements closely.

  Fenrir looked up at his newest follower, who was standing in the center of the floor looking utterly bewildered. "Come, sit. Are you hungry? Safara, take a look at her side, I cut her pretty deeply. Lilli, could you and Yumiko prepare us an early dinner? I'm feeling famished, and I doubt I'm the only one."

  The two succubi moved to prepare food, but Katari did not move. "I am not certain you understand," she said slowly. "I am not a guest. Until you consider my debt paid, I am nothing more than a sve to your will."

  "And right now it is my will that you sit beside me, allow your wounds to be tended to, and fill your stomach. Is that a problem?"

  The small oni looked even more confused. "...No, but most do not treat their beholden so. If you chose to do something like making me your chair henceforth, or heaped other humiliations upon me, I would have no right to compin."

  Fenrir had to suppress a smile. "Do you want me to do so? But if I did, I might crush you. I am not light."

  "I don't- that's not the point!" she excimed, coloring. "I lost! I do not deserve to be treated so kindly."

  "Ah," Fenrir said, growing serious as he saw the reason behind her protests. "You feel guilty for letting your cnmates down, and now you feel you should be punished in some way. Perhaps ter. For now, sit, eat, and allow Safara to heal your injuries."

  "But I-"

  "Now."

  Quailing under his tone, Katari did as she was told. Fenrir shook his head in amused exasperation. 'You wouldn't expect to have to order someone to let themselves be treated kindly, but here we are.'

  Chellise cuddled up to his other side, still looking rather like a whipped puppy, and putting a comforting arm around her shoulders, he waited patiently for the meal to be ready.

  TheBestofSome