Chapter 56 - The Long-Awaited Reunion!

Vash gained 2 whole levels worth of experience from what the Mithil Guards proceeded to do to her. Which normally she'd be excited for, if she wasn't currently lying facedown, ears and tail drooping, in the middle of the street where they had dumped her, both mouths drooling all over the dirty pavement.

'Eugh...on the bright side, I guess...'

She lifted her face, staring forward in a daze.

'Being gang-molested is the most efficient source of experience I've found so far.'

'Also...I can confidently confirm I'm not gay!'

Before her, the streets of Mithil: in all their depressing, faded glory, are revealed. Through all this fog and darkness, and mazelike streets, she's truly blessed to have the [Business Tie] to guide her.

'So, I was really pissed when I first learned that my Memento was basically just a weaker version of Akira's...but...'

Vash's tail twitched, beyond her control.

A dizzying heat rose throughout her new body, rendering her mind a fuzzy blanket.

'Maybe, it was meant to be.' <3

Something had awakened inside of Vash, as a result of being violated by the Nandi. She wasn't sure of what, exactly...but visions of ahegao faces, in the many doujins she'd read, across her previous lifetime, did shed some light on the answer...

'It's because of my new body, why I'm having such pathetic thoughts.'

'It has to be...right?'

The [Business Tie] lead Vash through a sprawling ancient graveyard with giant withered headstones, adorned by the cowlike skulls of fallen Nandi.

'This place is really giving me the creeps.'

Wading slowly through a sea of pukish green mist, Vash's ear abruptly perked--a Squell ear, possessing superior auditory detection to a human's--alerting her that danger was nearby, with the sound of a hollow rattling noise that she was certain she'd heard before, though she couldn't remember where...

Just then, a [Level 9] [KanCOWla] bursted out of a grave--a monster with an appearance like a [Kankala] from the squirrel temple: only with the broader, larger skeletal structure of a Nandi.

Vash was excited, more than anything.

'To celebrate my triumphant return to magic, let's try something a little different!'

Holding her palms out in front of her, she shouted, "Pyrofang Twister!" As twin, rotating colums of fire spewed forth from her hands, scorching the ground and low hanging grass in their wake. They further grew in size and damage as they travelled, before colliding in a giant explosion on impact.

Cowering in the face of the blast, Vash watched in triumph as the scattered bones of the [Kancowla] rained down from above—utterly destroyed by the blast.

"One-hit K...O!" She boasted out loud, pumping her fist.

The moment is ruined, when suddenly the ground began to shake. As one-by-one, more Kancowla emerged from their earthly Chungking mansion apartments--popping out of the ground, ready to fight, closing in on Vash in a tight swarm.

'I can't let them surround me!'

Vash, aided by her new [Scurry] racial ability, weaved a path between their ranks, as more and more unrelentingly poured out of the innumerable graves.

Desperate, she sought refuge at a mausoleum--of all places--tall, rectangular, with a dual-slanted roof held up by thick, sturdy columns, overgrown with lichens--descending down the dark stairs.

'Yes! Elevation--a Mage'a best friend.'

Remembering her Squell claws, she uses them to start to climb.

'Huh! Even though I may just look like a hot piece of ass--I hate to admit it, but this Squell form actually comes with a number of usual abilities!'

...

Akira Maximilian had just finished her lunch with Ai and Kanna, and was thumbing through the copy of "Prison Hell School for Lustful Witches" she'd picked up at the market earlier, as they walked.

"I take back everything I said earlier!" She furiously said. "Something this awful shouldn't even be allowed in print! All it is is cheap porn disguised as a fantasy story: with terrible, lazy writing, cheesy jokes, and poorly written, unrealistic characters that only exist to fulfill the author's sick fantasies!"

Ai cut her a sly glare.

"Gee, Akira...since when were you an art snob?"

"Even if it's trash, it can still be enjoyable," Kanna added while leaning back with her arms crossed behind her head, picking her nose with a pinky finger as she stared wistfully. "The writers probably only cared that they had fun writing it."

Akira, scoffing, tossed the volume into the nearest trash bin, as they were passing by.

"Eh, I still say trash is trash. But whatever..."

The trio had been discussing plans, over kebabs, on how to deal with the Ivory Barrier that was blocking their progress. The answer, as it turned out, came surprisingly easily: with Akira remembering the single entrance into the dome that the Barkeep had showed them--that specifically, the caravan of MONKS was passing through, at the moment in question.

"We need to join one of the caravans, probably by becoming pizza monks ourselves," Akira said, as they were crossing a grassy knoll on the outskirts of town. "Which is a sentence I never would've thought I'd find myself saying."

"Plus, you get to see that monk girl again!" Kanna joked. Adding dryly, "the one you slept with in the wagon."

"That's right! I'm sure she'll be glad to repay the favor!"

"For saving her?" Ai chimed in.

"No, Ai-chan! I meant for sleeping with her."

They started to see a commotion brewing up ahead, involving some Mithil Guards mustering in large numbers, further out in an untended grassy area with slender, dark trees, removed from town.

One Guard was hurrying to join their ranks, whom Akira pulled aside to question.

"It's the Kancowla!" He replied urgently.

"Some completely moronic Fire Mage has gone traipsing through the ancient graveyard, disturbing their slumber!"

"They're going to overrun the entire town!"

Akira and crew exchanged glances.

"A fire mage!" Ai said excitedly.

"A completely moronic one!" Kanna added.

"Vash!" Akira exclaimed, tearing at the eyes--she'd been holding it in so valiantly all along, but secretly she'd missed him just as much as the others!

She took off scurrying, with the others following, straight into action.

Together they descended unto the heart of the graveyard, carving through the undead hordes in a whirlwind of steel and flashy MMORPG ability cast effects.

"Look!" Ai shouted, pointing at the sky. "Up on that thingy there!"

Situated atop the mausoleum, they saw a Squell laughing maniacally, as she freely pelted a nonstop flurry of Fireballs and Pyro Fang Twisters, down at the Kancowla.

Akira's ears drooped, showing her dismay.

"That's not Vash."

However, her expression then lifted back up again, just as abruptly.

"She's hot, though! So let's save her anyway!"

They're about to move in, when suddenly, a loud, bone-chilling laughter fills the air.

A figure is rising, levitating high above the graveyard: a tall, slender figure with a skeletal face and limbs with glowing red eyes, garbed in a threadbare, hooded black robe, wielding a gnarled, wooden staff decorated with pieces of bone and crow's feathers.

Vash ceases her Fire spell spamming to look up at it, reading the floating name above its head in terror:

'It's a [Level 20] [Glorious Lich]!'

'That must be the source of all this necromancy!'

It locks its malevolent gaze unto her.

"That's right, you fucking noob fire mage!" The Lich declared n a grating, shrill-pitched voice. "I heard you making some noise upstairs, so now I'm here to show you what REAL magic looks like!"

A purplish, arcane aura swirled around him, and Vash knew it couldn't be good.

Thinking fast, she flung herself off the side of the roof, narrowly avoiding a lobbed [Decrepify] spell that caused even the stone material of the mausoleum, where it lands, to dissolve and decay, leaving behind a giant, gaping and smoldering hole.

Vash--closing her eyes, bracing herself for a hard fall--was surprised to, instead, fall into a soft pair of arms...as well as a rubbery, bouncy chest.

She opens her eyes, and there sees her knightess with a shining smile.

"Akira-sama!" She blurts out, unthinking.