Kitsune of the Blue Sun

Chapter 79- Start of the Defense

[Keeno POV]

The three of us ran in the direction we saw the other adventurers and knights running.  Several of said knights slowed down and started to gather civilians and telling them to go to the Guild building since it was going to act as a disaster shelter of sorts and, if necessary, an escape route using the portal room.  We continued on until we reached the wall.  There, Pram split off from us and headed over to where the other healers were stationed, ready for when they would be needed.  Freya and I passed under the gate and, after the other adventurers and knights that would be in the two vanguard positions were outside the wall, the gate shut with a loud clang.

At this point the suns were just starting to rise, giving us a better view of what we were facing.  While still far, the horde of monsters was visible, though it looked like a roiling mass of shapes than anything discernable.  Someone on the wall must have had insanely good eyesight since they called out to us on the ground.

“IT’S MOVING, GET READY!”

Sure enough, the mob was indeed moving closer at a very fast speed.  The closer they got, the more the ground beneath us rumbled due to the sea of monsters heading our way like a tsunami.  Another voice called out over the din of the approaching horde.

“ADVENTURERS AND KNIGHTS, TODAY IS THE DAY WE DEFEND OUR FAIR CITY!  DO NOT FALTER IN THE FACE OF OUR ENEMY, THINK OF WHAT WE’RE FIGHTING FOR!  THE FACES OF THE CHILDREN AS THEY PLAY, THE GIRL AT THE BAR WHO GIVES YOU THAT BIT OF EXTRA ATTENTION, THE MAN WHO SELLS THE GOOD SKEWERS ON THE STREET CORNER!  WE FIGHT FOR THEM AS MUCH AS OURSELVES!  SHOW THESE DEALERS OF DEATH THE VIBRANCY OF LIFE!”

“…” (Keeno)

{You idiots!  My Keeno has nothing to do with these things!}

A few of the angels around us started holding their heads as Ama’s yell was overpowering for them, though they managed to snap out of it when the roars of the monsters got even closer.  Shortly after that, the wave broke upon the leading vanguard of knights and adventurers.

Saling over our head was a rain of magic and arrows and the sounds of magical explosions rang out.  Bodies, both dead and not, flew around.  While the main vanguards took the brunt of the monster horde, there were too many for them to hold them all off, so us in the second line were intercepting the ones that slipped through or passed beside the main vanguard.  Due to my magic and Soul Weapons being more suited to widespread carnage than close-knit fighting, I was a bit away from the main group, taking care of monsters that slipped by the side of the main vanguard.

I was in the midst of it, swinging my blades, cutting apart anything that came into contact with them.  If it wasn’t for the heat and flames coming from both blades and chains cauterizing the wounds from the monsters, I’d be drenched in blood from ears to tails.  Things lasted like this for a while until I started noticing that the monsters were starting to avoid where I was and going in a wide berth around me, so I decided it was time to switch things up and start using magic.

I started off using simple fireballs and arrows mixed with Death magic to make sure that, even if I only grazed the monster, it would die or at the very least be weakened enough to get finished off by someone else.

‘I’m not doing enough.  I need to increase the output or do something more.’

It was then that I remembered something Fia did a long time ago.  At the time, I didn’t know how she did it, but now, I had a pretty good idea, but never had the chance to try it.

‘Don’t blow up in my face, please.’

I started to spread my mana out around me.  Almost instantly, the area that was being saturated in my mana started to increase in temperature.  Soon enough the grass at my feet and in the area, I spread my mana to started to turn scorched.  Large cerulean embers started floating up into the air.  They then formed into little foxes made of mostly blue flames with some black highlights signifying the Death magic imbued in them.  The blue foxes then started to run towards any monster that entered the area my mana covered and when they struck a monster, it almost instantly turned to ash.  I made a few more embers turn into raven shapes and made them fly to monsters that were avoiding the foxes.

While I was doing this, some of the monsters tried coming to attack me in order to stop the magic, but either the higher heat near me or my Soul weapons ended them before they got close.  It was like I entered some kind of trance at this point, and I didn’t notice how, ever so slowly, the ground beneath me started to die, and it wasn’t due to the heat I was giving off.  It wasn’t just the monsters that were turning to ash, but the entire area that was saturated with my mana, the aspect of Death seeping into it unconsciously.

[Freya POV]

It’s been several hours since the defense of the city started.  The horde was still going strong, though it was noticeably becoming smaller.  The mages, archers, and other ranged combatants on the walls were making sure to keep the horde from fanning out any more than it already was and funneling it in the direction of the vanguard.  The main vanguard was doing a good job of culling the numbers that went directly for them, though there was still a large number of monsters leaking through to us in the mid-guard.

After finishing off another monster, I backed away a bit so I could get a small breather.  Once I got past the defense line, I surveyed the battlefield.  Despite the number of monsters, we were holding the line well, there were some that got past both vanguard groups, but that was in the margin of error for the size of the horde.  When I looked over at Keeno’s side of the battlefield, my eyes went wide.  The area around her was turning black and grey and burning with blue flames.  Monsters were going right for her like moths attracted to a flame and turning to ash just as quickly.  If they managed to dodge the moving flames and get close to her, they either started to catch fire or were struck down by one of her swords.

“…” (Freya)

“Lass, that one over there is your party’s leader, right?”

I glanced over to see the giant dark elf that has acted as the defacto leader of the defense.

“Yeah.” (Freya)

“Think she’ll be able to continue that much longer?  It’s been going on for a long while and I’m assuming it’s using more mana than I can imagine.”

“I don’t know, I only joined her party recently and I’ve never seen her do anything like that before.” (Freya)

“I see.  Even if that’s the case, I’d like it if you could get her to stop.  Seeing as she’s a big hitter in this defense, I’d like it if she doesn’t get put out of commission from lack of mana.  I think at this point we can handle it for a while before any other potential wave hits.”

“Got it, I’ll go see what I can do.” (Freya)

I started to make my way over to Keeno’s area, killing any monster that got through and near me.  It took a bit, but when I got close to her, I slowed my pace.  The heat was insane around her and one step onto the burnt ground revealed that it turned to ash.

‘Come on, Freya, it’s just a little heat.  You have the same magic affinity, so you should be able to withstand it.’

I looked back at Keeno in the center of the small sea of burning ash.  She was ever so slowly moving toward the main horde, completely ignoring practically everything but her enemies.  Deciding that I should just go and get her to snap out of whatever trance she was in, I covered myself in my mana and, muttering a small chant to myself, I used my favorite spell.

“Suns bless me.  Give me the speed to become light.”

My body started to glow, and I felt the familiar lightness that gave me a feeling of freedom that I loved.  I looked in Keeno’s direction and took a step.  I glided over the sea of ash and, next thing that I knew, I was next to Keeno.  Looking at her face, it gave me chills.  No emotion could be seen on her face, her glaring eyes looked even colder than normal and the glow from her irises made the black parts of her eyes give off an eerie feeling that was only compounded by the slit pupils that made one think a dragon was staring them down.  I shook off the uneasy feeling and got back to what I was supposed to be doing.

“Okami!  Snap out of it!  Wake up!” (Freya)

It seemed that yelling wasn’t going to do anything.  When I was about to try something else, I heard a small whisper in my mind.

{Freya, words like those aren’t going to get through to her, you need to either say or do something that will take up more of her focus.}

“Well, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.” (Freya)

{Say this.}

I raised an eyebrow at what the goddess told me, but not seeing anything better to do, I shrugged my shoulder and spoke again.  It seems that even Keeno can get embarrassed about things that she thinks none of us know about, seeing as the fire around us died down almost immediately upon mentioning her poetry.

“How did you know about that!?” (Keeno)

“Ask the goddess later.  I was sent over here to get you to stop and fall back for a bit.” (Freya)

“Alright.  I’m actually kind of tired, so thanks for this.” (Keeno)

The two of us then retreated back to the defense line.

Chaos Realm:

I was wondering when Keeno would try and copy that move of Fia’s.  Just a shame she didn’t maximize on its potential.

Amaterasu: While I agree, I think she needs to work on that tunnel-vision.  It’s dangerous for that to happen in a fight, and I’m worried if it happens when she gets back to Falheim.

Order: If I remember right, didn’t Luna have the same problem?

Hers was a bit different.  Luna liked fighting and was more like a berserk state, in Keeno’s case, it’s more like traditional tunnel-vision.  If Freya got in the way of one of her attacks, she would have snapped out of it, so Amaterasu’s way of dealing with it worked better.

Amaterasu: It’s worth the scolding I’m going to get from Keeno later.

Order: I’m more surprised she still writes poetry when she knows you are always watching her.

Amaterasu: It’s something she enjoys, so she won’t stop.

Well, have fun when she starts writing it in Runes so that only she can read it.

Amaterasu: Then I’ll just learn how to read Runes.

Order: Payto, are you thinking what I’m thinking?

And here I thought you were the Goddess of Order.

Order:  I am, but when has that ever stopped me from doing something that will lead to all of our enjoyment?

Never.

Order: Exactly.  Now, Amaterasu, get ready for your Rune lessons.

Amaterasu: Yes Ma’am!