Chapter Text
Azure's POV
I'm pretty nervous for my very first cleansing, but I have nee-chan and Zuki with me, so I should be fine.
We just arrived here in Edeyureiss, and later at night will be the start of this town's Cleansing Week.
So far, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Well, nothing until one of the citizen's came up to us.
"Excuse me, young fellows," an old man called out to us. We turned to face him, he continued speaking. "You're not from here, right? Are you three planning to stay in town?"
"Why, we are, good sir," Zuki took the lead. "Is there something wrong?"
The old man shook his head and sighed. "You best be careful then, lads. There has been a number of rampaging wild animals every night recently."
"Rampaging?" nee-chan repeated in a questioning tone, her eyebrows furrowed.
"It started two weeks ago when boars, deer, and a bear ran around causing trouble in town during a festival. At first, we thought it's because they were drawn into the noise. But after that, they came every night, going after random town folk. So, you better stay indoors at night."
We nodded. "Thank you for your advice, sir." He nodded back and walked away.
I turned to Yuki nee-chan. "Nee-chan, do you think..."
Before I could finish my sentence, she nodded. "We're thinking the same thing, Azucchi. Sudden animal rampages... We can only suspect the Ausentier drug to trigger that response from otherwise, peaceful wild animals."
"Then...," Zuki started. "Laelaps has started moving in the East."
We all nodded solemnly.
It's been 3 days since we came here, and we're on Night 3 of the cleansing.
For the past nights, there were barely any bandits to catch, because, instead of bandits, there were only more rampaging animals to subdue. It's a good thing we all had a vial of the Ausentier antidote that Lin-san made. We minimized the damage like that, there was actually no need to harm the animal if we could help it.
This night, we switched up our game plan – before the usual time the animals are sent on a rampage, nee-chan and I noticed when and where these animals show up; so, we decided to intercept the people behind the rampage. I set up a trap near the town that shoots out the antidote fragrance with the scraps I found lying around, assembling them with my tools and the pre-made gears decorating my satchel.
"How on hell are you able to make that?" Zuki commented, eyeing my trap.
I shrugged. "... With my knowledge, duh."
"No, I mean-- nevermind," he sighed. "Anyway, are you sure this is the path those animals take?"
"Yup! Nee-chan and I had two nights to observe them, so it should be pretty accurate. They'll be back to normal once they trigger this line to shoot out the antidote," I grinned and whistled a tune as I finish up the trap.
"Alright, alright. Just hurry up, we have to meet up with nee-chan deeper in the forest. I do hope we can catch those rascals who started this all."
I nodded and made the finishing touches. "And... Done! Let's go, Zuki."
He nodded and we jumped on the nearest branch. We maneuvered our way through the trees and found nee-chan. She looked back at us and gestured for us to approach silently. She pointed at something below, we followed where she was pointing and saw three buff men with deer and boars captured against their wills. I gritted my teeth at the sight, I hate it when people don't treat animals right. The three men hid behind the trees and pulled a string which opened the vials, of what I think is the Ausentier drug, tied around the necks of the animals. The animals went wild and charged to the direction of the trap I made.
I glanced at Zuki and nee-chan, they both nodded at me, as the three buffoons cackled watching their work done. I nodded back, pulling out my go-to smoke bombs; nee-chan readied her claws while Zuki readied his bow.
I threw the smoke bomb at the enemies, they looked confused until smoke emerged and panic raced to their faces.
Nee-chan and I immediately pounced at them as Zuki remained on the branch, shooting his arrows.
We each took one enemy to face off; I saw nee-chan cornering the tallest of the bunch; Zuki was keeping the other one at bay with his arrows; and I am facing the swordsman with my own sword.
I was in the middle of a swordfight when I noticed an arrow coming towards us. I took this as an opportunity to push my opponent to the arrow's line of flight. It pierced the back of his left leg, then, in one swift movement, I slashed my sword onto his right leg and arm – making him drop his sword and kneel down because of his crippled legs.
I moved to tie him up, just as I was tying him up, nee-chan was also finishing up as she slashed her opponent with her claws once, and that was the only thing it took to knock out her opponent. 'I should really ask her to teach me how to make Nemurin.'
She turned to me with her emerald green eyes sparkling, I saw the smile behind them. "Good job, Ariel!"
I smiled at the codename, "Thank you, Sekhmet."
"Sekhmet! One of them managed to get away!" Zuki came running towards us.
"Don't worry, Kasar. I'll go after him. Take these two to the station. I'll signal when I need you!" she said as she ran after the crook.
I watched as her back becomes tinier as she went deeper into the forest. Suddenly, I felt a pang of fear and worry in my chest. I clutched my chest, hoping it's nothing.
"Hey, Ariel. Let's go," I can feel the worry in his voice.
"Ah, yes. I'm sorry. Let's go," I said, tugging the arm of one of our captives, guiding them towards the town.
'I hope nee-chan will be okay.'
Shirayuki's POV
I caught up to the bandit. I dropped down from the tree and planted a flying drop kick to his back, screaming, "Get down you dirty rascal!"
Once on top of him, I slashed his back with my Nemurin-coated Tekkō-kagi. He got knocked out and I immediately tied him up. I huffed a breath.
"Time to go back," I muttered to myself.
On my way back though, I felt a presence following me. I stopped, laid down the bandit beside a tree and looked around. It was reassuring that Kuroo is still tailing me from above.
I addressed the unknown, unwelcomed presence. "Who are you?"
A disgusting chuckle echoed the forest, then I heard chains being dragged around. I followed the sounds of the chains, my eyes focused on an emerging figure from the shadows.
"Kekekeke~ You must be Emerald Star, Master will be pleased if I kill you right here and now."
'Master?' I noted, but I cringed at the name. "I go by Sekhmet now, thank you."
"Is that so?" The figure completely emerged from the shadows. He had an animal skull mask on; his upper body was bare, revealing a buff, scarred body; he has old rugged pants with a katana on his waist; and lastly, on his hand is a chained weapon with what looks like a small scythe on both ends. 'A kusarigama,' she noted.
"Who are you?" I asked again, this time I hissed.
I don't need to see it, but I know he's smirking behind the mask. "The name's Theta, a pleasure to meet you!"
And before I knew it, his chained weapon is heading straight for me. 'Shit.'