Chapter 6-165: One Fine Summer Day (1/2)

Summer passed into autumn, or as they called it around here, early winter. Winter itself buried Wakefield in several feet of snow, and everyone dug themselves out of drifts up to the eaves of their homes, and life went on.

Spring came, or as it was known hereabouts, late winter. It was June and supposedly summer, and you could still find snow back under the pines if you went looking here and there.

Enrollment in Senpai’s School had tripled, and even some skilled swordsmen or long-suffering lesser Powered who’d been stuck at roadblocks for years had come up to the school to learn from her about how to break their roadblocks.

The thing she was most proud of was sending her first class off to their required service, smirking inside that technically she wasn’t even old enough to undertake such service herself... and everyone assumed she had already passed it, and had served in some hush-hush duties that nobody spoke about.

Most of the training took place in the back yard of the property she was renting, now ringed by a low fence and tall bushes so as not to distract the neighbors, and foil gawkers who would disturb the students. Whether it was Meditation on building up their ki for the fresh young Nulls or the older practitioners who just wanted a healthier lifestyle, it all took place out here, occasionally under the pavilion they’d built to keep off the rain, but the cold wasn’t allowed to stop them, and it hadn’t.

She didn’t have the money to set up a Ring of Blood, of course, but she was capable of sucking the injuries off everyone to herself, and they could watch the bloody transfer take place, and her heal up a gushing bloody wound right in front of them. That it was painful for both concerned went without saying, but it also taught them how to fight when injured and in pain, after being stuck and cut and eye-gouged and kicked in the balls, and with their limbs broken.

It taught them the fighting mindset and tenacity they’d need to have to do well in the world. Even if they didn’t like the pain, even if they screamed, they learned to keep going, keep attacking... they could be healed at the end, but they had to fight for it to happen.

She was sweeping out the dirt from the pavilion at the end of the day, a calming process that got rid of the heightened emotions of thrashing her students over and over, forcing them to learn, to get faster, stronger, better, to even have the hope of beating her.

They were all normal humans, so compared to her, they Leveled with incredible speed, and faster if she beat on them more, punishing lack of focus, of drive, of commitment, and forcing them to live in the here and now, getting rid of all distractions.

If they were distracted, they ended up on the ground unconscious, really fast. She had no patience or understanding for those whose minds wandered during her training...

“Senpai!” Edward called out, his voice holding an odd note of urgency. She looked up sharply, and saw him waving her over. “Something odd is going on to the south!”

‘Something odd is going on’ was alarm bells for anyone with brains in a magical world. She tossed the broom smoothly into its corner as she skated quickly his way, to where he was waiting at the break in the trees.

There was a dark cloud circling in the blue sky there, lightning was crackling around it, and toruses of magical energy in bloody red and bone-white hues were coiling up towards the center of the circle, but breaking apart and falling away as they did so.

She heard the rolling boom of something exploding, distant thunder, and people who had also noticed it above the trees were pointing and calling out.

“Call the firehouse and sound the Magic Alarm! Fuck! Someone broke the old Bane by the mines! There’s a fey catastrophe coming this way!”

Edward had been promoted to Senpai’s Operator during his stay here, and had the important locals on his contacts. He called the firehouse up and fairly screamed the news at them; less than thirty seconds later the roaring alarm was up and spreading over Wakefield.

Sama glared at the distance, and the trees swaying, moving, splitting aside, and they felt the rumble of the earth shaking as something old and powerful moved through it, outraged at the damage to the land and boiling for revenge.

“This is Senpai.” Her voice rang out with ki, and everyone within a hundred yards heard her, especially her students. “This is not general knowledge, but there is an old Bane in the woods, where a Genius Loci was Sealed over four hundred years ago. Now someone has set it free.

“I want everyone in full killkit, and I want you running out of this town. That thing is a crazy-mad loci, and it is going to wipe this town off the map, and everything in it. Get your shit and run!

“My people, you need to be aware that whoever freed it might not be interested in having people get away. The roads out may be blocked, which means you’ll have to fight to get through. Be ready for it!”

Her green eyes were flat and cold, and they were starting to turn blue. Edward saw the gold starting to appear at the edge of her hair, and a Tattooed Mask swarmed across her face, while the savage blue-black lines of a Curse swam up from her back and plastered themselves across the side of her face and neck.

“Where do you want me?” he asked.

“Get the snowplow out and lead the charge out of town. If there’s people stopping those running, they’ll blow trees and collapse them across the road. Clear the way!”

“Got it!” He ran towards the small townhall and fire station nearby, where the garage for the local snow plow recently stored away was. Everybody knew Old Henry, the plow’s driver, who put in long hours over the winter to keep the roads open and clear, and the old fellow lived on the way there.

Sama’s brown hair was going gold as she picked up speed, moving faster than anyone in town had ever seen her run. As she did, her voice rang out, merging with the alarm, telling them that a Fey cataclysm was coming, to get out of town, or they’d die here...