Guilty X Creatures

Chapter 31 : Afternoon

Jumping back and away from the now shimmering mantis, Mica tossed the empty bottle aside as a wide, excited smile spread across her face.

This glow coming from the mantis began to quickly build up on itself until the whole area was awash with the bright golden light.

The watching spectators were all forced to squint as the mantis began to slowly rise back up to her feet. Looking all the world like a being made out of pure light now, it was impossible for anyone to see any of the mantis' details. But as they watched, mesmerized by the sight, waves of white light began to ripple across her body and as each one of these waves passed over her, new sections of her body began to appear as her missing pieces were seemingly recreated out of the light itself.

For her part, the mantis remained completely silent and still as her mangled body was rebuilt anew.

"...So, was this really the smart thing to do?" muttered Fiona.

"The smart thing to do? No, probably not." responded Anton as his grin widened "Now was it the right thing to do? ...Absolutely!"

As the light rippling across the mantis seemed to reach a crescendo, the glow that encased her began to break apart into silent little explosions that left a shimmering cloud of light particles floating in the air all around her. And as these sparkling lights faded away into nothing, the fully healed mantis finally came into view.

Standing motionless with her eyes shut, the mantis' entire being now appeared clean and refreshed as all the grime and dirt, as well as every cut and bruise that had adorned her body merely moments ago, had all been erased away by the healing light of the potion.

Although this rejuvenated state made her an impressive sight in of itself, what stood out the most to the onlookers around her, were the parts of her that were new. Most noticeable of which, was her second pair of arms.

These new arms were far thinner and much more spindly than her original set. And they did not branch out from her shoulders in the more traditional way, but were instead mounted to the back of her hips. Circling forward around her waist, these arms were like the mantis' legs in that they were made up of chitin encased sections. They both ended in five fingered, heavily segmented hands.

New hands also now existed at the ends of her traditional arms as well, just before the hinged portion that allowed her scythes to swing forward.

The small, strange nodes that had covered the lower portion of her broad forearms as well as some of the chitinous plates scattered about her body, had each been replaced with a sharpened, spike-like point, and this left her arms, and the more armored areas of her body, now sporting a formidable looking layer of protective spines.

The two odd bulges attached to the sides of the mantis' head were no longer in their heavily damaged state. And rather than being the dark, ugly brownish color they were before, they were instead a bright, beautiful, fuchsia pink in color. In between these bulges, a pair of thin, wispy, insectoid antennae rose up out of the mantis' now much brighter, lilac colored hair.

The last of the obvious changes, was a pair of long, subtle, cape-like structures which flowed down from the mantis' shoulders and covered her back before trailing down her tail-like abdomen.

"Oh wow... She's beautiful..." breathed Kianna "...She looks like a flower."

"Yeah, a deadly flower." mumbled Fiona.

"Yes... You're both right." nodded Anton.

Pleased with the sight of her new and improved opponent, Mica nodded her head in approval as she looked the mantis up and down.

"Well, you're looking a Hell of a lot better now!" she exclaimed as she gleefully unsheathed her daggers "So you ready to get this started again?"

Without a sound, the mantis flicked her antennae forwards and proceeded to slowly wave them back and forth a few times before whisking them back over her head.

After another second of stillness, she opened her eyes and stared straight at Mica.

Smiling in anticipation, the kiochi lowered herself into a stance as she pointed both of her daggers at the mantis.

Seemingly unfazed by this challenge, the mantis shifted slightly to the side and dropped her gaze down to the side of her chest.

Blinking, Mica creased her brow in suspicion as a thin, sharpen piece of metal suddenly pierced through the mantis' skin, just below her last rib. As the kiochi watched, a metal spike was slowly driven out of the side of the mantis, and as it finally exited completely, the wound it left behind was instantly closed up by the last flash of golden light from the potion.

Catching the piece of metal before it fell to the floor, the mantis held it in the palm of her hand as she silently examined it.

"What the Hell was that?" asked Fiona as her ears pointed themselves straight upwards "Did something just pop out of her!?"

"It looks like it." nodded Anton.

"What is that thing?" questioned Kianna.

"Well, if I had to guess. I'd say it's probably a mana displacer." said Anton.

"What's that?" asked Kianna "Is it like a manabinder?"

"Something like that, yes. Though it's a little more permanent than a manabinder." said Anton "You see, while a manabinder channels a beings mana back in on itself, a mana displacer sort of does the opposite. It displaces a beings mana and sends it flowing out into the environment around it. In this way a persons mana isn't just cut off from them, but completely siphoned away. And unlike a manabinder, a mana displacer is not so easily burned out. Acting as a mere channel, mana can flow through one almost indefinitely. And in that way they're more permanent than a manabinder."

"...Oh. So, how did one of those things get inside the mantis?" asked Kianna "Did she eat it?"

"No. Someone either stabbed her with it, or it was implanted in her surgically." said Anton.

"Ew! That's gruesome..." grumbled Fiona.

Pointing her ears straight back, Kianna's face twisted in anger as she turned and glared at Leopold.

"Don't look at me." said Leopold calmly as he kept his eyes on Mica and the mantis "I didn't do that."

"Well someone did!" growled Kianna.

"Yes... Someone clearly did not want that mantis to be able to use her mana." said Leopold as a thin smile spread across his face "Looks like that issue has been fixed though."

"Yes, it has." nodded Anton "And now not only does that mantis have access to her mana again, but she has a potentially useful weapon as well..."

"Oh, fuck that! That's gross!" exclaimed Fiona before placing her open hands on either side of her mouth and calling out loudly "Hey, Mica! Don't let that bug stab you with that thing! It'll take away your mana!"

Both Mica and the mantis turned to her in unison as she spoke.

"Hey! Stop that!" cried Nokko "You're not allowed to help her!"

"Fuck you. I'll do whatever I want." sassed Fiona as she dismissively waved her pointed middle finger at the fuming kiochi.

"Oh really... Thanks for the heads up." said Mica as she turned back to the mantis "Yeah, good luck sticking that thing in me!"

Shifting her gaze to her, the mantis stared at the kiochi for a moment before looking back down at the shard of metal in her hand. Without a sound, she turned to face away from everyone and rolling her arm back, she threw the mana displacer as hard as she could.

Mica's eyes followed the metal shard as it sailed out over the open field and quickly disappeared from sight.

"...Uh? Okay?" she said as she brought her eyes back to the mantis "Did you not understand what that thing could do?"

Seemingly ignoring her, the mantis was now focused on staring at her new hand.

"...Yo! Hey! Don't think that I don't get that you're happy to have hands again, I do!" said Mica as she readied her daggers "But we've got a fight to get back to. And if you don't mind, I'd like to get started now."

Turning only her head, the mantis looked over at the kiochi and gazed at her with her same blank stare.

"...C'mon then!" said Mica as she pointed her dagger straight at the mantis' face "Show me what you can do!"

Mica blinked as the mantis' form seemed to fade a bit as her outline became slightly distorted. The kiochi's breath got caught in her throat as she registered that within a split seconds time, the mantis had fully crossed the distance between them, and was now standing right next to her.

"...You-!" was all Mica could say before the mantis slugged her right in the jaw.

Dazed and staggering, the kiochi went still for a moment as she collected herself. When she came back to her senses, she realized that the mantis was now standing back in the same exact spot she had been in before and was currently busy gazing at her hands as she slowly opened and closed them.

"Well then..." chuckled Anton "This isn't looking good for Mica..."

"What the fuck just happened!?" cried Fiona as she pointed from the mantis to Mica and back "The bug was there, then there, then there again! Like instantly! ...Did she just teleport!?"

"No. She's not teleporting." said Anton "It looks like she can blitz."

"Blitz?" questioned Kianna.

"Yes. Functionally blitzing is like a soft form of teleportation, but mechanically the two abilities are completely different." said Anton "When someone teleports what they're doing is slipping out of reality and traveling through the Void before popping back into a different point in reality. This whole process can be preformed more or less instantaneously. Blitzing however, is what happens when someone infuses themselves with mana and splits themselves apart. Reduced to an immaterial mass, the two halves of this person can not only both move incredibly quickly, but can even exist in two different places at one time. This allows someone to launch one half of themselves forward and then either repeat the process to move forward again, or, alternatively, they could rubber-band themselves back to where they left the other half of their body. This process is so fast that it can be difficult to track with the naked eye."

"...So, you're saying that by splitting in half, that bug can move so fast that we can't even see her?" questioned Fiona.

"Yes, exactly." nodded Anton.

"...So, then the bug could just slice Mica's head right off and Mica wouldn't even know what happened!?" exclaimed Fiona.

"Well, the mantis would still have to pause for a moment to rematerialize." said Anton "But this could happen fast enough to more or less be exactly what you're talking about, yes."

"...So is Mica's fucked!?" asked Kianna.

"More than likely." said Anton.

"Well this just got a lot more interesting." chuckled Nokko.

"Fuck you, bitch! This isn't over yet!" exclaimed Fiona as she pointed her finger at Nokko "You keep talking shit over there and I'm gonna shove your tail up your ass, spade first!"

"Heh, like to see you try that." mocked Nokko.

"No you wouldn't." said Fiona.

"Enough! Save your squabbling for after the fight." said Leopold "We need to pay attention here, we don't want to miss this."

Back on the battlefield, Mica had recomposed herself and now a bit more cautious of her opponent, was ready to continue the fight.

"Okay. Cool trick." she mumbled "But I can do that too."

Breaking into a run, Mica raced straight at the preoccupied mantis before disappearing from sight. An instant later she reappeared in the air right in front of her adversary and slammed down at her with both of her daggers. Apparently anticipating this, the mantis blocked her attack by catching and holding the kiochi's wrists and the two now locked combatants found themselves pushing back against each other.

Grinning, Mica went to utilize her tail against the mantis but before she could do this the mantis reached up and grabbed the sides of her head with her newly regrown middle arms. The next instant found the mantis pulling downwards and slamming a surprised Mica's head into her bent knee face first.

Dazed by the attack, Mica went to stagger back but before she could even take a step the mantis delivered four quick blows into her torso with her middle arms and then leaned back to stand on one leg and give the kiochi a swift kick right into her stomach with the other.

Bent in half as she was sent flying backwards, Mica tumbled and rolled as she made a hard landfall. She came to a stop in a crumbled heap as the mantis went back to casually examining the hands on her new limbs.

"Oh! ...Ouch." mumbled both of the dark elves as they watched Mica tentatively regain her feet.

Furious now, the kiochi immediately made another run right at the mantis, and at the last second before reaching her mark, she disappeared again and reappeared up in the air behind her seemingly oblivious opponent.

Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion as Mica's gathered momentum allowed her to sail at speed straight at the back of the mantis' head. The kiochi's gleeful smile became strained though, as she watched the two large bulges on the sides of the mantis' head shift a bit as a dark spot within each of their depths spun around and seemed to become focused on her. Memory coming into play here, Mica was immediately taken back to the time she had experienced a similar situation with Mokai, and her chest tighten as a realization came into her mind.

Those bulges were actually eyes, and she had just been spotted.

Making to teleport away, Mica's response came too slow and before she could escape the mantis had turned around and grabbed her outstretched leg with all four of her hands.

"No!" cried Mica as the mantis yanked her forward over her shoulder and slammed the kiochi into the ground.

Bouncing off the ground with a pained grunt, Mica found herself suddenly flying through the air again as the mantis grabbed hold of her tail and began to swing her around by it. Letting go after a few spins the mantis flung the kiochi off to the side and went still as she watched Mica fall to roll head over heels through the tall grass.

Everything was quiet for a second before an angry scream echoed out over the open prairie.

Throwing bits of grass and debris off of herself, Mica got to her feet and brandished her daggers and bladed spade at the mantis.

"Bitch!" she hissed as her fury emanated out around her "I am gonna cut you to ribbons!"

Though her mouth never actually moved, the mantis smiled with her eyes as she raised the hands on her main arms and showed her opened palms to Mica.

Unsure of what was meant by this, Mica hesitated and then took a quick step back as a white glow began to form around the mantis' hands.

"Uh oh." mumbled Anton "This doesn't look good..."

"What? What is she doing now!?" asked Kianna.

"She's casting a spell..." said Anton as his face went grim.

As the glow around the mantis' hands grew into a full on white light, she dropped her arms down and let her scythes swing forward to lock in place before wrapping a glowing hand around the base of each scythe. The glow quickly spread across both weapons before a blinding flash caused everyone to look away.

Blinking the lights from her eyes, Mica turned back to the mantis and immediately stopped short.

From one instant to the next the mantis' scythes had doubled in length and taken on a metallic shine as they now appeared to be made of sharpened steel.

Taken aback, Mica stood completely frozen as the mantis began to twirl in a controlled series of attacks which effortlessly sliced away at the tall grass around her. With the sunlight glinting off of her now scimitar-like blades, the mantis finished her dance-like display by dropping into a stance in the center of the mowed circle she had just created and smugly brandishing said blades at Mica.

"...Okay. You know what! Fuck you!" said Mica as she pointed her raised middle finger at the mantis.

Without a sound, the mantis sprung forward.

"Crap!" cried Mica as she jumped back to try and evade the quickly advancing mantis.

"Did you know she could do that?" asked Anton as he turned to Leopold.

"I did not." said Leopold as he watched a profanity shouting Mica frantically try to keep her distance by teleporting away from the blitzing mantis.

"Do you even know anything about this mantis at all?" asked Kianna as an increasingly frustrated Mica threw one of her daggers at the mantis.

"Can't say that I do, actually." said Leopold as he watched the mantis swipe the flying dagger away.

"Where did you even find her?" asked Fiona as the mantis finally caught up to the kiochi and with a single strike, knocked her other dagger out of her hand.

"I let an associate of mine know that I was in the market for a combatant that met certain criteria, and this mantis is what he provided me with." said Leopold as Mica dodged the mantis' blows and tried to reclaim her weapon by teleporting and sprinting over to where she had dropped her dagger, only to be chased away from it by the pursuing mantis.

"Hm. Interesting..." nodded Anton as he watched a now desperate Mica teleport straight up into the air.

"Ha! Bitch!" taunted Mica as she teleported upwards again and again "Let's see if you can jump this high!"

Staring straight up at her, the mantis tucked her arms and scythes in tight against her torso, bent her knees and lowered herself down before springing straight upwards and launching herself at the kiochi.

Mica started laughing gleefully as despite her impressive leap, the mantis was obviously not going to make it high enough to reach her. Her laughing stopped short when the cape-like structures trailing down the mantis' back split down their middle and shot out to her sides. The confused kiochi blinked as next, two massive, heavily veined, insectoid wings spread themselves out wide on either side of the mantis' shoulders and then disappeared from sight as a loud, angry buzz filled the air.

"Oh, dammit to Hell!" cried Mica as her eyes widen in fear "This bitch can fly!?"

The spectators on the ground remained silent as they all tilted their heads back in unison and followed the two combatants as they rose higher and higher into the air.

Once Mica and the mantis were little more than two black dots in the sky, it became hard for anyone to determine exactly what was happening, but it appeared that Mica had attempted to escape the mantis by teleporting behind her, and this did not seem to work.

Having caught hold of Mica, the two dots had become one as they fell back towards the ground and as they got closer and closer it could be seen that the mantis was giving the kiochi quite the midair pummeling.

Diving down head first, the mantis waited till they were both just a few meters off from hitting the ground before she veered off to the side and gave Mica a resounding kick to send her flying in the opposite direction.

Avoiding a direct impact with the ground, Mica still tumbled through the dust and grass like a rag doll before finally coming to a stop. Laying face down with all her limbs askew, the kiochi groaned in misery as she stayed still for a long moment.

It was the buzzing sound of the approaching mantis' wings which prompted Mica to finally lift her head. Looking upwards she found her opponent staring down at her with a faintly bemused look on her otherwise blank face.

Before the kiochi could even utter a single word, the mantis lifted her middle arms and tossed Mica's weapons to her. The kiochi's two daggers each made a distinct thunking sound as they were driven into the ground on either side of her head.

Spreading her wings back out wide, the mantis hopped backwards and sailed back about a half dozen meters before landing gracefully, folding her wings away and dropping herself down into a fighters stance.

Mica stared at her for a long moment before slowly getting to her feet and collecting her daggers.