-=No Need to Fear=-

“Bring it.”

As though they suddenly understood english, two of the butcher’s dozen leapt at Shadow. They came at him from the sides, hoping to catch him in a double attack. Unfortunately for them, the ninja bandit didn’t need two arms for these enemies; instead, he simply threw himself into a spin, holding his dagger out as he did so. The pigs were gashed by the unexpected move as they dove into the trap. However, the dagger had moved too fast to do any real damage; the pigs landed and turned around.

The swine realized too late, however, that Shadow wasn’t alone. Having stayed far back enough to cover the bandit, the magic sisters had the monsters in their sights. Emma wasted no time; she swung her staff through the air, and a pair of magical claws tore through one of the pigs, killing it and removing it’s ribbon. Genya, on the other hand, was a little hesitant in her attack. Taking a moment to make sure the pig didn’t notice her, she waved her wand through the air. It produced an energy ball that smacked the pig, knocking it down. However, it rolled back up, dazed, but not defeated. The younger magician drew back with fear as the pig approached, but somehow she summoned up the courage to fire another blast of energy. The second one took the pig down.

“Genya!” Emma yelled. Genya looked over. “Please, you must be strong! Shadow and I could really use your help!” The younger sister looked at the pigs, gulping nervously. Still, she recomposed herself; she wouldn’t be scared off that easily.

Shadow heard the comments. At that time, another pair of ribboned hogs stepped forward. Snorting angrily, they each began digging one of their feet through the ground, preparing themselves to charge. Shadow took the moment of inactivity to commune with his allies. “Don’t worry about me!” he said. “I can take them all on if I have to! Just look after yourselves!” Shadow returned his attention to the pigs just in time to see them begin their charge. He jumped up in the air and bounced off of one pig’s head, putting it in a daze. He then used midair momentum to perform a force-filled downward plunging stab into the other pig’s head. The stabbed swine fell to the ground and lay still.

The other pig quickly shook it’s head, ready to attack. However, a pair of magic claws appeared out of thin air, slicing it apart with ease. The ribboned one barely held itself together from the attack, until another dual claw slice finished it off. Emma came up to Shadow’s side. “We’re more than willing to help, no matter what,” she said calmly, awaiting the next batch of pigs. “We’re in this fight just as much as you are . After all, no pork-belly over there is going to harm my sister and get away with it, not while I’m around.” As she said this, Genya quickly scooted up so she was behind the other two, still eyeing the pigs cautiosly.

This time, three of the remaining eight pigs jumped out, positioning themselves in front of the group. Each one eyed one of the three adventurers hungrily, ready to attack.

“Looks like we each get our own,” Emma observed. “Genya, we’ll take our own, while you handle one yourself.” The young girl’s eyes widened with fear at first, but Emma quickly laid a hand on her shoulder. “Relax, we’ll make sure nothing happens to you,” she said in comfort. Genya gulped and nodded in response, then stood in front of one of the pigs.

With both opposing groups in position, the pigs charged again, this time much faster than the other pair. Shadow met speed for speed as he jumped over his swine’s advance, spinning though the air in place as his dagger was held out. The resulting spin-slash caught the pig in the back, sending it rolling on the ground, while the bandit dashed off to finish it. Emma didn’t quite have the speed her rougish companion did, but she also reacted in time nonetheless. A pair of energy claws halted the pig’s leap, tearing at it’s flesh. Even with that, the pigs still ran at Emma, but she sidestepped in the nick of time. As her hog slid in confusion, another set of claws tore it asunder once more, grounding it for good.

Genya, however, was startled by the faster charge. She yelped out in suprise as she barely managed to dive out of the swine’s way. The pig skidded to a halt and turned itself around, only for it’s face to feel the contact of an energy ball. Shaking off the searing pain that came with the magical blast, the ribboned pig dashed after Genya again. The younger girl quickly flailed her arm through the air again, and another blue energy burst caught the pig in mid charge, sending it careening to the grass. Genya narrowly made it out of the way as the pink predator rolled towards her. Another blast from her wand inflicted more damage to the swine. She was about to give it one more when she heard a loud squeal from elsewhere.

Genya looked over as she saw Emma take care of her pig…only the older girl didn’t see another pig charge at her, even faster than the others did! Genya tried to call out to her sister, but no sound came out-her voice was gripped by fear. Fortunately, she heard Shadow call out Emma’s name, but even then it was too late. The clawing magician looked up just in time to see and feel the the pig do a full-blown tackle right to her gut. Genya watched in horror as her sister was thrown from her position. Once again, though, Shadow came to aid, catching Emma in his arm before she hit the ground. At the same time, he gave her attacker a roundhouse right to its nose.

Genya was about to sigh in relief until another squeal closer to her caught her attention. The pig she had wounded had been give ample time to recover as it charged her again. She raised her wand, ready to attack, but she was too late; as her arm was in mid-swing, the pig caught her wand in its mouth. A short round of tug-of-war ensued. In the end, the clearly stronger pig yanked the young magician’s wand from her grasp. Then, the pig quickly opened it’s mouth and clamped it shut.

The wooden wand was easily snapped into three pieces.

Genya screamed at the sight, now paralyzed with fear. The pig, it’s prey now at its mercy, threw itself at her. Genya closed her eyes and braced herself for what could possibly be her final moments alive. She awaited the brutal charge.

Nothing happened.

Slowly, Genya opened her eyes, wondering what happened. Her eyes suddenly widened when she noticed Shadow standing right in front of her, dagger in hand. The pig was lying motionless in front of him. He turned his head, looking back at her. Eventually, her eyes met his.

At that moment, something inside Genya suddenly came alive: hope. In a moment of peril, she had found herself overwhelmed with fear and despair. Ever since months ago, she had held an unusual amount of fear inside her, which rose to unbeatable levels whenever she was caught in a bad way in a fight. However, never before had death been so close to claming her in it’s cold grip. In that last moment, she thought her life was over. Now, however, she was saved. Normally, she expected it to be her sister, as Emma had helped her countless times. Instead, it was the stranger she had met and helped save before. Back then, deep down, she felt he was too mysterious to trust, but she helped anyway, since she felt it was the right thing to do. Now, the roles were reversed; HE had saved HER life.

As Genya continued staring at him, it felt as time itself froze. She didn’t know why, but somehow, she’d felt a sudden surge of hope flow through her when she saw him in front of her, guarding her from danger. Somehow, she realized that this adventurer could be trusted, that this adventurer was indeed on the side of her and her sister.

Somehow, in this moment, Genya knew she was safe.

A sudden loud series of squeals brought her back to the real world. The five remaining pigs charged as a group at Shadow. However, he was one step ahead. He took Genya with his arm and dashed over to where Emma was. The older girl was unconcious, but still alive. The bandit released the younger magician by her sister’s side, then whispered in her ear: “Stay here. I’ll defend you both.”

Without thinking, Genya nodded. Shadow dashed over to the pigs, while Genya found herself, looking for items to help Emma with. As she found a red potion to use, she looked up at Shadow.

The bandit was running to the pigs, who caught sight of him after losing him when he dashed off with Genya. Even then, Shadow didn’t hold any quarter as he hurled his dagger at one of the pigs. He scored a bulls-eye, catching one in between the eyes. The other fous rushed at him in response, but he leapt over them effortlessly, landing by his dagger. Snatching it from the slain swine’s head, he wasted no time spinning around, throwing it again. One of the pigs whirled around, ready to dash at the bandit again, but a dagger flying towards it’s face was the last thing it saw. The remaining three pigs ran at Shadow yet again, as the bandit did the same to them. This time, one of the pigs managed to leap high in the air, determined to squish Shadow flat. However, he saw the pig jump, and responded by rolling under it. Once again, Shadow grabbed his dagger and threw it at a pig. Once again, a pig turned around, guided by instinct and a will to hunt, only to be cut down by the flying blade of doom. This time, however, Shadow ran immediately after he threw the dagger, not giving the savage swines a chance to stampede toward him. The pigs watched as he grabbed his dagger yet again. They moved to respond, but one was too late as the bandit slammed his dagger through the top of its head. The final pig was free to ram Shadow, but he dodged in time. Greatly angered, the pig whirled back around and made one final charge at Shadow, jumping in the air in the process. However, Shadow responded with a leap of his own. With the flying pig in front of him, Shadow quickly ended the airborn standoff by spinning himself once, shooting his leg out midway to deliver a devastating hurricane kick to the pig. The kick was so powerful that it blasted the hog far into the distance. It made a final loud squeal as it fell to the ground far below that which the adventurers stood on.

Genya watched the entire thing. Her eyes were simply wide open in complete disbelief, even as she watched Shadow land on the ground gracefully, as though he had topped off a series of gymnastic moves. He walked over to the sisters as Genya remembered the potion she had and administered it to Emma. Shadow stopped short of the pair, his gaze laying on the younger sister. Like before, Genya looked up at his eyes. A feeling of victory and peace washed over her, as her last feeling had been correct. Something inside her promised hope, and he delivered it without fail. As she realized this, tears slowly began falling from her eyes.

Shadow’s gaze continued as his mouth formed a warm smile. “You’re safe now,” he said calmly. “The monsters are no more. You have nothing to fear now.”

Genya tried to respond, but again, no sound came from her words. More tears streamed down her face as a feeling of happiness enveloped her, a feeling she hadn’t felt in months. Eventually, she dashed over to Shadow. She fell against him, hugging him tightly and weeping openly. Shadow returned the hug, comforting the girl gently.

While this happened, Emma woke up; the potion she was given had healed her wound. She looked over and saw what was going on. At first, she was about to ask what happened, until something happened that almost took her breath away.

Genya, amidst her sobs, said her first words since meeting Shadow: “Thank you.”

At that point, Emma realized what happened. Shadow had saved her life. More than that, however, Shadow somehow managed to open up a part of Genya that had long since been closed off from the rest of the world.

For the first time in four months, Genya had finally spoken.

———————————————————————————-

Here’s chapter nine. A fierce battle, followed by a sappy ending. AWWWWWW! Heh, who knew I had it in me?
Anyway, now’s a good time to let you guys know that the coming week is my spring break from college, meaning I could be away from this site for a while. Don’t worry yourselves, though; the moment I have some free time, I’ll get another chapter thrown on here.
Right now, however, I feel I owe my latest readers a bucketload of thanks. First off, thanks to everyone who has read my story and commented on it. It is awesome to know that I have come up with a story that you all enjoy. Second, thank you all SO MUCH for the likes you have given me. Three chapers in a row had made it to the front page thanks to you. This gives me a great feeling of accomplishment as a writer, knowing that the story I love is getting better and better. Lastly, one last thanks to Silver, who has stuck with me from the very beginning. Let me tell you, Silver, by the way, that your story is NOT a battered ship. Your latest chapters were truly excellent. I couldn’t for the life of me stop laughing at the pillow war chapter! Keep it up, I’m continually learning much from you, as well as the other story writers there.

Okay, the blog is officially TOO long. Here, take your Mountain Dews! Happy Spring to all of you!

Previous installments:
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