One Hundred And Twenty-Eight

One Hundred And Twenty-Eight

After seeing Shaeula safely back to our Territory via a very circuitous route, I left her in the care of her weaselkin and returned to the Material plane. My body was stiff and aching from my long slumber, and looking at the clock beside my bed it was after six in the evening. That reminds me...

I reached for my phone, opening it up, to find quite a few messages from Karen-chan. The general gist of them was asking where the hell I was, but that she had made it up to Shirohebizumi shrine and taken charge of the work, as I had requested. Well, that’s one problem solved at least...

Now I had something more important to focus on. Going over to where Shaeula’s Material form was lying motionless in her futon, I pulled up the blanket, suddenly letting out a hiss of displeasure at the scene revealed. The cloth below was soaked with blood. Pulling up the hem of her yukata I could see a mirror to the wound she suffered in the Boundary, her flesh torn.

Sure, it isn’t as bad, but it’s still ugly... the flesh was ripped and ragged, covered in scabbed blood and half-healed flesh where my Ether Healing had trickled down to her. Getting some water I gently washed away the muck, tenderly cleaning the injury. Once her pale flesh was revealed, I started using my ability again, aether seeping into her body, the hot red swelling of torn flesh diminishing, the edges starting to heal, nearly imperceptibly, but still visible to the naked eye.

I continued this for several hours, and while I was doing this I also spent the time productively. I did a bit of online gambling for the first time in a while, making a decent profit, and then I made a call to Eri, surprising her. Got to prove I’m a changed man, after all.

She was shocked and delighted to hear from me, and we made some happy small-talk for a while. I was pleased to hear she was making more of an effort to fit in with others at school, and she grilled me over how things were going here. When I told her Shaeula was injured she actually got angry at me, saying I should have protected her better, and since I couldn’t disagree, I apologised. She made me promise to take Shaeula out somewhere nice when our troubles were concluded again. We finished the call by looking forward to the weekend, when I would be meeting her again, along with our parents. To discuss... well, the upcoming wedding, I guessed. Well, that’s my future decided, oh well...

I had pretty much exhausted my aether, as working in the Material was tough, but the leg wound definitely looked less angry, the edges healing nicely, new pink flesh forming. What was even better though was the reward my efforts had gained.

Your Skill, Ether Healing has advanced from Rank 1 to Rank 2. You can more effectively heal your own injuries and those of others, repairing damage to subtle bodies. Your subtle bodies will draw in an increased rate of ether from their surroundings and automatically repair themselves. You also have a minor resistance to harmful substances and foreign matter.

When comparing the difference between Shaeula’s Boundary and Material forms, I had gained a greater understanding of the intricacies of each, and when also compared to healing myself, I had suddenly found it significantly easier. I wouldn’t be surprised if I had another breakthrough soon too, I’m just missing that last spark of insight to push me further...

As I contemplated this my phone lit up again, with another message from Karen-chan. This time I replied, and a few moments later there was a response, asking if I was up for a drink. Smiling to myself, glad she was better, I took a six-pack from the fridge and headed over. Can’t have her coming here. Explaining the seemingly dead Shaeula, with a bloody wound in her leg... nah, can’t do it, she’ll call the police for sure...

Karen-chan opened the door, dressed in casual clothes, but at least this time she looked clean and well groomed. If still a little pale. Guess she was pretty hungover after last night. On seeing me she raised one eyebrow quizzically, before gesturing for me to come in.

“The place is a lot cleaner than last night.” She snorted, taking a seat at her low table. “I appreciate you picking up after me. I’m not sure your fiancée would approve of you tidying another woman’s underwear though.” She teased.

“Yeah, maybe not, but it was an emergency. So, anyway... how was it?”

She took one of the cold beers from me, cracked the ring pull and took a deep sip, sighing contentedly. Once she gathered her thoughts she spoke. “It wasn’t too bad, though I was hungover like you wouldn’t believe... err, not that I should be telling my boss that, right?”

Behind me I could hear the snickering of weasels, and I turned to see... two Kamaitachi once more.

“Yes-yes, I have been reborn, thanks to my princess... and you.” The newcomer snorted, face twisted into a grin of mixed bitterness and respect.

I recognise this one. The one that I killed attacking my Territory. He nearly had me, back when I was just starting out...

“It is quite-quite the strange feeling.” The Kamaitachi continued. “Though as my soul slept I saw flashes of what the princess felt... until recently, when I could feel-feel you too.” He shuddered theatrically.

“Do not be rude-rude to Akio.” Shaeula pouted, causing the kamaitachi to snicker once more.

“I would not dream-dream of insulting the chosen husband of the princess.” It gloated, causing her to flush, shame-faced. “Though your mother will likely have much-much to say.”

“If she wishes to complain, she can come here-here and say it in person.” Shaeula replied, tossing her head in annoyance. “Still, it is good that you have returned. Now only two-two more remain.”

Yeah, the one that came back before and was killed again in the battle with the Raven Knight, and one other. Each Kamaitachi was a very valuable asset in combat, and more importantly, leadership, as I could trust them to follow orders and manage the trolls as much as possible.

“Right, well, now that we are prepared, we have to decide our next move. That spectre is powerful, and the Territory still has solid defences. The way I see it, we have two options. Firstly we can make a hard strike either now, or after they fail their next attack on us. We smash down the defensive barrier, and then pile in, doing as much damage as we can and hopefully taking down the Anchor, defeating it in one fell swoop.”

“There is risk there-there.” Shaeula pondered. “Still, I believe we would have a chance indeed, should the master of that Territory continue to remain uninvolved.”

“Yeah, and the other option is to start harassing them from all angles, constantly hit-and-running the barrier, gradually wearing it down. If we attack seemingly at random from multiple positions, they won’t be able to respond to a real attack, and after doing it a while their vigilance will have to lessen...”

“I favour that scheme.” She answered. “I am not at my best still-still.” She looked down at her injury. “And we can let that fool Grulgor and his trolls take this role at first.”

“Yeah, a bit like they did to our Territories in the past.” I agreed. “All right then. I’ll spend some more time working on healing your injuries, while we commence pulling their attention in every direction. The endgame goal is to either break through and destroy their Anchor, or if that looks too hard, we can seize the shrine they hold.”

With that decided, I began to pour aether into Shaeula’s wound, the Kamaitachi behind me trying to marshal the trolls... I don’t envy them. Trolls sure are powerful, but are really hard to use to their full potential...