The mention of the new inhabitants Misumi brought into this world, built for him, was the center of the town. Tomoe's chibi clone led us to the edge of town. The Mamonos got out of the way and bowed as they passed.
"Do you think Nousen has any chance of winning?" Misumi wondered out loud as they walked.
"Not really. The Mamonos have not started training yet, but they have lived deep inside the wasteland their whole lives. They have to be powerful to survive there, plus he was the 33rd contender to be the chief." Embroiled in her excitement, Tomoe chimed in her thoughts.
"Really? Aren't adventurers super strong?"
"Some are, but they are not that common. From what I remember, they have become more powerful in recent years. Going by the games from your world, they have a system that lets them level up. Allowing them to match up to powerful Mamonos."
"Mmm, So hyumans have a system to get more powerful, but you still think he is not gonna win the fight against the highland orc?"
Mio silently followed behind him, wondering about something.
"Yes, he is low level since I did not feel much power from him. And the blessing the Hyumans receive from the goddess does not reach here. Plus, all of the experience the orc ha- Wait, back when we accepted them into Asora, you ordered them to never harm Hyumans..." her index finger tapped her chin a couple of times. "I guess it will be a contest of endurance for Nouzen, see how long he can keep on punching."
"Well, if you have confidence in that, then there won't be any danger." Realising a sigh, Misumi Makoto felt a lot less worried, and the pace of his walk slowed down from bordering on power walking to a regular pace like he was out on a stroll.
"Waka-sama, can you be my food taster? I want to learn how to cook delicious meals for you, and your opinion of the dishes I make is vital to growing and developing my cooking skills." Mio finally decided on what to do.
"Ah- well, yeah, I'll try your cooking." He really had no idea of what to say, but agreed.
Mio hearing him agree to her request was over the moon. Her arms wrapped around her body, which wiggled like a worm. In her mind, she imagined him trying her food. After the first bite, he would stand up and place his hands on her hips, saying, 'Everything your hands touch turns delicious. Are your lips just as delicious or more?' Just like those romance manga she read in Musumi's memories.
Musumi, Enna, Tomoe, and her chibi version stopped and turned towards Mio. "I'm starting to regret this."
"Waka-sama, we will never forget the sacrifice you made for us." Tears streaked down Tomoe's face like rivers and spawned a handkerchief out of nowhere to dry her fake tears.
Emma, besides him, seemed like she wanted to reprimand Tomoe, but she must have remembered that she declared herself and Mio as Misumi Makoto's wives and that she was way more powerful than her. She sucked in her words and closed her eye to hold back her outburst.
A circle formed by Highlland Orcs, Blue scaled Lizard, and Arachnids was forming and getting bigger as they approached the edge of town.
"Hmm, the fight must be entertaining," Tomoe observed as she placed her hands behind her head and observed illusory flames rising over the wall of Mamonos on their way. "I thought he was a warrior, but he is using magic to boost his body instead of Battle Aura."
"Battle Aura? What is that?" Misumi asked.
"Battle Aura is a specialized form of enhancement magic, but used only by warriors. It enhances certain aspects like speed, endurance, or strength. Could be one of them x2 or more, depending on how good you are at it, or you can do all 3 at a 1.2x at the lowest, and also could go up to 2x at max." Tomoe informed him, her eyes glued to the flames flashing out of the area where the fight was taking place. "It's known as Battle Arts recently, but I still prefer magc."
When they got closer, the Mamonos split down the middle like the Red Sea for Moses without removing their eyes from the fight.
They saw the 2 fighters, one of them, the Hyuman, throwing hands, and the Mamono simply evading whenever he could or taking on the hits.
"Let's see the fight for a bit, see how long Nouzen can hold on." Tomoe then turned to one of the Lizard people and ordered him to do something.
"What is he doing?" Emma asked, perplexed at seeing flames but not feeling any heat from them. "Is he not fighting seriously?"
Soon, the lizard brought four chairs for them to sit and looked at the 'fight'. "Hmmm, it looks like some form of pushing the human body to the limit and burning magic instead of the liquid in your blood. I might be wrong tho."
Nouzen stopped, for a moment, they thought he had finally tired out, before they saw crimson illusory flames. His opponent put up his guard, a serious look on his face. In Nouzen's hand's the wind heated up and took the shape of a blurry sword, his chest squeezed itself as if doing a deep exhale, followed by a deep inhale.
His first steps forward gave the viewers they were about to witness a beautiful dance. His first vertical swing of the blurry blade caught everyone's attention. The second and third made them lose themselves in watching the dance, the swings, the flames, everything.
The chief's brother blocked or evaded the slashes. At first, the blows did not look like they affected him much, but after many moves, his arms started visibly shaking on every hit he blocked, similar to the spars he had with his brother. Sweat started to cover his fur, and he soon felt like evading would be a better option. However, it would soon get to the point where any mistake or wrong timing could end up breaking someone's bones.
From our position, I could see the look on his face, from what I remember Emma saying, I expected to see fury on his face or at least his eyebrows furrowed. However, all I could see was a calm expression, like doing an everyday activity. No doubt of being able to do it or anxiety of not being sure he can do it, just calm.
The highland orc started looking around for items to use as shields. First, he used wood, which held up for a few hits, but seeing those small pieces break, he started using his club, which seemed almost unbreakable due to being made by the Eldas even if it looked like a regular wooden club.
When they first joined, the weapons they forged looked way too normal and fancy. They gave the impression of having been made by a regular blacksmith. However, when they were firmly in your grip, the balance of the weapons alone brought a sense of confidence that they would and could be the only partner you would ever need in a fight.
Even though this Hyuman did not wield any weapon in his hands, the feeling of a hot, dull blade held firmly in his hands terrified him. At the start, it felt as if he had a metal pole, but as the fight went on, it started heating up and gaining an edge to it.
"I think we should stop them now," Misumi muttered as he moved his eyes from the fight to Tomoe.
"Give it a bit longer, maybe he will master whatever he thinks is not up to par. Maybe he needs a fight that will challenge his limits in some way that is different than his fight with the Vampire, Ja-No." Her eyes were glued to the fight as she tried to delay his intervention.
"Vampire!? Y-You mean the blood suucking one or the ones that eat people whole like in SKYRIM?"
"Yeah, the second type."
"H-he was fighting them? How terrifying!"
Seeing Musumis' expression and wavy voice, Mio said with hands clenched in small fists. "I will obliterate any of them who even think of getting close to you, Waka."
"Eh.... Thank you." They must think I am a coward.
He stood up from his chair and walked forward, intending to stop the fight. Tomoe was still, torn between wanting to stop him and respecting the decision of her lord.
Seeing Misumi getting closer, Emma ordered the onlookers to hold the Hyuman to stop the fight. An orc and a blue skaled lizard quickly jumped in and tried to hold onto the Hyuman, simply holding his arms did not work since he broke free everytime so they decided to pin him down.
"OK, stop stop." Misumi walked in between them and spread his arms, trying to calm them.
Seeing who got between them, the Orc immediately knelt down and lowered his head. "Yes, Waka-sama!!"
"Order him to fight me!!" Even with half of my face being squeeze between the dirt and a scaled knee my eyes never left the Orc.
"Why don't we all calm down an-"
"SHUT UP AND TELL HIM TO FIGHT!!"
A kick landed on my ribs, and it felt like a huge boulder had been dropped on them. "Watch your mouth when you talk to Waka-sama, desu-ne."
"Mio! Stop!" His shout stopped her from connecting a second kick, she must have looked at him with a chastised puppy eyes for being yelled at. But the damage had already been done. He looked down at me and tried to calm me down with words, but they died in his throat when the rage was written across my face. Before, in the middle of the fight, he never saw my excretion control in rage and fury, but now. Now it did.
I moved my head to be able to look up at him. "In the future, you will kill a Hyuman, and when you do, I will hunt you down!"
His expression told me he was hurt by hearing that from someone he considered a friend.
"OK, you need a time out to cool down!" Tomoe clapped her hands to draw my attention before speaking. "I will send you back and visit you in a few days to talk, ja-no."
A gate made of mist appeared to my left.
"Lift him up." She said to the creatures holding me down. Her eyes met mine before wincing and holding her head with both of her hands, and shakily taking a few steps back.
The Lizard and Orc holding me threw me at the gate, afraid I would cause irreparable damage to the mistress of the realm.
The last image I saw of the place was of Misumi and the inhabitants of Asora running to Tomoe's side, worried expressions plastered on their faces. Mio, however, stood in place, her eyes firmly locked onto me. Then my vision was taken over by a light gray fog for a second before finally seeing a blue sky.
Hard stone floor greeted my back as I fell down onto it with the force of a NASA car racing at full speed. My brain first registered the air being forcefully snatched out of my lungs before the of my ribs, and back registered.
The heat and extremely dry air were next to register. Unable to stand up, I dragged myself to a shadow provided by a spike. It gave me a small relief from the blazing sun. Being unable to do much else for the moment, I tried to locate all of the areas in my body that beat in pain along with my heartbeats.
Looking up at the sun to guess where it was setting, to go the opposite way.
Starting my walk in this heat, I moved from shadow to shadow, trying to prevent as much exposure to the sun as possible. A few minutes into the walk, my stomach started grumbling, reminding me I hadn't eaten. A few more and I felt my throat go extremely dry.
I sat on the ground and leaned a rock, providing me some shade to rest for a few moments.
I felt the sweat on my skin, trying but turning warm way too fast. As my eyelids grew heavy, I saw two female figures approaching me, their skin looked like Lilac purple and extremely attractive figures. Who would've guessed I'd have a wet dream of demi-humans as I died?
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Word Count 2111
If there are any grammatical errors, let me know by commenting on the paragraph.
Thank you guys. I appreciate your reading so far.
Gonna take another long break but I wanted to post this chapter.