I also wrote this at like 5 in the morning in less than thirty minutes so my Engrishing will be terrible xD Will fix later after sleeeeeep
3. Ishida Ayumi
A fake? Typhoon or not, the kids were in danger. They had protocol to follow if there was impending danger.
"Help me gather the stuff for the cart," it seemed Haruna beat her to it.
"On it!" Duu answered promptly, immediately getting to work on the non-perishables.
Maachan and Ayumi began to corral the kids when Ayumi noticed the cat demon heading towards the village.
"No way, she's not seriously handling all them by herself, is she?" Duu looked at the fleeting cat incredulously, wiping her brow.
"You looked pretty roughed up, how bad were they?" the twin tailed girl pushed the other's fringe back, revealing a bruise hidden beneath.
"They seemed like your average bandits attempting a raid..." the wolfish girl batted Ayumi's hand away, as if embarrassed of having received a wound at all.
"But you said cerulean typhoon?"
"Yeah, because their leader used pretty strong water magic and kept calling himself that to make the chief submit."
"I gotta stop Sayashi-san then!" Ayumi looked back towards the direction of the village, finding that Riho had already disappeared from sight.
Duu grabbed her arm, "Forget her, we have to make sure everyone gets to safety first!"
"I'll just meet you guys later, I know where it is!" Ayumi shrugged her hand off, walking backwards and away from the other, "I just can't let an idiot like her go rushing to her death!"
"She's a demon though!" Duu raised her voice, "She can handle herself, WE need to move!"
Ayumi didn't say anything in return. She turned about her foot and just ran. She retrieved the naginata leaning against the wall and went full speed ahead.
It couldn't have been long. Maybe Riho would still be okay... Ayumi pushed the bad thoughts out as she neared the destination. She began to hear sounds of battle as she got closer.
From what she saw, everything still seemed relatively okay, but there was no one around. Maybe the bandits came up from the other end of the village and started their raid there. She'd know by the time she reached the chief's house. Or well, where it once was. Duu said the leader blew it away in one hit.
Please let Riho be okay... Her fears manifested when the sounds suddenly stopped.
Riho...?
She turned the corner.
...To Riho standing over three men, incapacitated.
"What?" Ayumi's eyes widened.
"What the hell are you guys doing?" a tall, lanky man with 8 crossed arms looked on in disdain. "You're all losing to a CAT...." For a bandit, he was surely well-armored. Was he a samurai who abandoned his duty? His colors were indeed cerulean though...
He must be the leader.... a spider demon with water magic, huh? Ayumi gripped her naginata tighter. She then looked to the other.
SHE DOESN'T EVEN HAVE A SCRATCH ON HER?!
"I had some of the best teach me how to fight," A smug smile appeared on the cat's lips. Three more men jumped at her. Ayumi blinked and Riho suddenly wasn't there anymore. The men collapsed in a heap, in complete disarray.
"YOU FOOLS!" the water spider roared, bringing one set of arms to form a triangle with his hands. Suddenly, a burst of water spiraled from the space between his hands, completely washing his incompetent men away.
So that's how the chief's house was destroyed... Behind the bandit leader, the chief's house laid in ruins. Wait....
"What did you do to the chief!?" Ayumi stood her ground, pointing her weapon at the villain.
"Another kid, some village you got here, letting the children fight," the bearded leader turned his head slightly and that was where Ayumi caught sight of the chief. Whatever happened, he was thrown against a house and he was heaving painfully, with some of the villagers at his side though staring at the awe-inspiring entity that was Riho.
Suddenly, Ayumi sensed malicious feelings and looked back--and immediately side flipped out of the way of a water blast! Having survived surprise attacks from Duu and Maachan, she was no stranger to perception and had the dexterity to accompany that.
"Oh? Stronger than that other brat then," the leader simply said, resting his crossed arms against his armor.
"Hey," Riho called out, "Your fight is with me."
The bandit leader scoffed, "Why would the Cerulean Typhoon bother with a weakling like you?"
"Because this weakling just beat up half your crew," Riho pointed at herself, other hand on her hip. "Besides, I don't recall the Cerulean Typhoon even needing a band of bandits in the first place."
"You keep talking, brat, I will end you," the leader grew increasingly annoyed. Seeing that his men gathered themselves, he barked: "GET EVERYONE!"
How low, some of the bandits were even aiming for the injured chief! Ayumi would not allow for that at all! She ran in front of everyone and stood ready for the bandits to come. Luckily for the orphan, a naginata had a far superior reach to a sword, which was what most of the bandits wielded. Two of them charged her at once. She batted each strike away from her, causing the two to stagger. Opening! her mind screamed and immediately, she ricocheted her blade off of the last hit and sliced both enemies in the foot, eliciting howls of pain.
When she looked up to check on Riho, her claws somehow glowed as she swung at the air, releasing very tangible, red claw marks upon unsuspecting bandits. Was that some form of magic? It was like watching a moving beam of red light, only it was in the shape of angry scratch marks that were too fast for the bandits to dodge. On top of that, Riho whirled about like a tornado, slicing up all who dared to get in her way. Maybe Duu was right, Riho, being a demon, could definitely hold her own against a gang of bandits.
Wait, these guys are way too easy... How in the world did miss Kudou Haruka lose to these low people? She even had the time to space out, letting the enemies clumsily attack her and simply punishing their horrid aim with slices and blunt hits with the bottom of the naginata. She really had to remind herself to spar with the other a lot more often.
Then again, she was always the winner in those sparring matches anyway. Before she knew it, she had her own pile of moaning and groaning men at her feet.
"Are you SERIOUS?!" the leader threw his hands away at his side, clenching them into fists in pure anger. "INCOMPETENT, ALL OF YOU! THE CERULEAN TYPHOON WILL NOT STAND FOR THIS BEHAVIOR!!!"
Riho's eye twitched. That's when Ayumi knew she was definitely pissed.
"Yeah, keep calling yourself that, you fake," Riho, clenched her teeth, but still remained smug throughout.
"You DARE disrespect me?!" his arms spread out wide, as if in a grappling pose, "BRING I--"
Riho couldn't even wait to let him finish his sentence. With her amazing speed, she punched him square in the jaw.
"You're really getting on my nerves," Riho uttered under her breath, shaking her hand before letting it return to a fist.
Just then, really bad feeling nestled itself in the core of Ayumi's stomach. It was definitely coming from the water spider. She backed up into a defensive position, looking back at the chief and the others to let them know she was there to help.
The aura of the bandit leader came out like an explosion, pushing Ayumi back slightly, but she saw that Riho wasn't in the least bit phased.
"I'll show you the TRUE po--"
BAM.
Riho gave the demon an uppercut to remember her by.
"I hate it when people talk during a fight," she shook her hand out again, "No point to it."
She backflipped out of the way when multiple water projectiles launched her way from the multiple hands of the spider demon. Ayumi had a hard time trying to keep up with Riho's insane speed in dodging all of the blasts.
The bandit leader growled in annoyance as every single hit was not landing at all! And he had eight hands throwing all he had at the nimble cat demon!
Riho then decided that play time was over however, and she decided to stand her ground. Ayumi gasped when she allowed a water blast to hit her in the face, but there was no sign of injury, only very wet bangs and a dripping wet face.
Only seconds after, the rest of the water barraged her and Riho let it hit. She wasn't even flinching at them--and the ones that missed went right through the wood of the houses behind her!
Just who in the world IS this girl?! Ayumi gaped.
The cat demon simply lifted a hand, palm facing towards the frantic spider.
A powerful gust of wind spiraled out of her palm and into the demon leader, knocking him right into the air and making him spin from the recoil of the hit. Before he could get back up, Riho raised her hand in the air and brought it down with much force, causing spontaneous lightning from above to strike him where he was.
With Riho's two hands, she repeated multiple times, sending lightning strike after lightning strike after the unfortunate demon. After the smell of sizzling armor began to register, the cat demon brought her hands to her sides, panting from all the magic she used. The bandit leader was on his knees, but still defiantly glaring at her.
"And by the way, the Cerulean Typhoon isn't a water spider, but a storm dragon from the central mainlands of Nippon."
"W-What do you know, huh punk?! I'm the Cerulean Typhoon!!" the spider insisted, but shrunk back when he saw gusts of wind reverberate from Riho's feet..
"No you're not," Riho said matter-of-factly. Her whole body now floated over a whirlwind. "Because that would be my mother." She crossed her wrists in front of her chest, palms facing outward, claws bared.
Riho's eyes turned from black to cerulean.
"And that makes me the daughter of the Cerulean Typhoon."
With the aid of the whirlwind at her feet, it propelled her to impossible speeds and she passed him, though her claws were now at her side instead.
The bandit remained still, as if suspended in motion, though moments later, his armor caved in and blood spurted out in the form of an 'X' where the cat demon struck. He fell, face forward, dead or knocked out, Ayumi had no idea.
Did Riho just say... She was the daughter of the Cerulean Typhoon?!
"Oh goodness... What people do to pretend to be you..." Riho looked up at the sky, cerulean eyes turning back into a dark brown.
Wait... isn't she a cat...?
"But you have...cat ears...?" Ayumi said aloud.
Riho's ears picked up on what she said though. "Yes?"
"And you said the Cerulean Typhoon is a storm dragon, right?"
"Mmhmm." Riho began walking towards her.
"You're... half cat and half dragon?"
"Yup," Riho pushed Ayumi's gaping mouth closed.
How in the WORLD did that even HAPPEN!? There were some things in this world that she would never understand.
"You'd be surprised at how much magic helps in conception," the half cat, half dragon demon smirked, dusting herself off. "Don't you have somewhere to be?"
"Oh, they're probably safe, they should be at the safe house at this point," Ayumi looked at the angling of the sun. She then turned to the chief, "Will you be okay?"
"Y-yes..." the chief could only stare at that anomaly of a demon next to Ayumi. "But you... have to go."
Riho only nodded, as if this was normal to her. Ayumi suddenly felt really bad. For someone with that kind of lineage, it would be very easy to assume destruction would follow. "Do you want to come with me in making sure they're alright?"
"Only if there's food."
Ayumi facepalmed.
<3