Return of the Fallen Volume 2 Chapter 49
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Author: Blue_Rat
ch49
Early in the morning as the first light touched the top of the trees, Nunully, followed by Sam, entered the Mangshi cave. As soon as they entered the chamber, an alarm of loud screams pierced their ears.
“Invaders! Invaders! Get a weapon.”
Villager after villager grabbed whatever they could and prepared to fight but Nunully’s feather-like voice caused them to pause.
“Please wait a moment, we are not your enemies.”
As she said that Sam appeared from behind her. The villagers hesitated for a moment until they saw Sam’s face and recognized him. Seeing that it was one of the warriors who agreed to help them, many of the villagers grew relaxed and when they noticed what he carried with him, all thoughts of attack went out of the window.
Under each of Sam’s arms, he carried a large boar. Behind him as well there were several other sources of meat and a few hundred pounds of vegetables tied to a rope being dragged behind him.
The villagers began to drool on the spot as their eyes seemed to gloss over. The sound of rumbling stomachs soon followed.
An old woman slowly approached them and worked up the courage to ask.
“Young lady, where is the chief? What happened? It’s been days since they left, yet no one’s returned.”
Nunully slowly took off her mask and revealed her angelic looks. With sharp-pointed ears, the Mangshi were already taken aback and did not expect to see a nonhuman. This gained a bit more of their trust. Nunully had been in the cave before but she wore her bronze mask like usual. Had they taken a moment earlier, they would have recognized her mask but at the same time, if someone suddenly shows up in your home wearing a mask, friendly isn’t the first word you would use to describe them.
The very next thing they saw caused them to gasp in astonishment.
Nunully’s long blonde hair descended down like a waterfall. The few blue strands of hair that intertwined within it, seemed almost otherworldly. With dark blue eyes that ran deep like the ocean, as well as full lips and a petite nose, ‘beauty’ seemed almost offensive. Rather, a young goddess was a more suitable description.
The men, women and even the children couldn’t believe their eyes and a few even began kneeling at her feet.
Nunully quickly helped one of them up.
“Please, do not bow to me. I have something very important to tell everyone as it concerns all of you.”
Some could detect the seriousness in Nunully’s tone and grew worried.
The old woman from before had recovered from seeing Nunully’s looks and asked in concern.
“What is it, young saintess?”
Nunully ignored her comment and remembering what Kazuki had told her, she repeated the lines she had been given.
“As you all know, I was with the young warrior Ryuta. We had come to an agreement with your Chief Atoh and promised to capture Mei and bring her back. At first, everything went according to plan and we had taken her. When we brought her back we could not make her revert back into her human form forcefully so we called for Chief Atoh and Abah to come out so they could place a Limiter tattoo upon her. Otherwise, in her Mangshi form, she would never be able to enter the cave at that size.”
All the villagers nodded their heads in agreement. They didn’t know why Chief Atoh had been called out but now that they heard Nunully’s explanation, her words made sense.
The entrance to the cave was narrow and small. Maybe two people could fit side by side but no more. It was already surprising that Sam had carried the two boars under his arms, no doubt he had to turn and maneuver his body every step of the way. For Mei to be brought in here in her Mangshi form was an impossibility. They all knew she was over 20 feet in her bird form. There was just no way she could be brought in, in that state.
A few people began whispering amongst one another.
“So that’s why they wanted to meet with the chief outside.”
Another nodded along.
“Yes, it makes sense now.”
As the murmurs began to spread amongst the crowd, Nunully quickly cut them off and dropped the most dire news.
“While Mei was in the process of receiving her Limiter tattoo from Abah, Mei unleashed a powerful screech. It was so powerful that a few of the villagers transformed on the spot and began attacking us, Chief Atoh and Abah. It seems Mei was controlling them. In the process, Mei’s restraints were thrown off. After that, the floodgates were opened and we had to fight desperately.”
A few people in the crowd grew worried and a woman and a man both spoke up at once.
“My husband, where is my husband?
“Is my brother OK? Please, young lady, tell me what happened?”
Nunully bit her lower lip causing it to bleed a bit. The onlookers grew pale seeing this. They knew something must have happened.
“Dead, all of them are dead. My friends as well as your Chief Atoh and Abah, the villagers that escorted them out, they all died. That evil Mei and her mother, my friend sacrificed his life to finally finish them off. If not for the chief, I and Sam would not have made it. In the end, we are the only two left.”
Screams and pleas, mixed in with desperate shouts of denial erupted from the crowd. Children and many women burst into tears hearing this news.
“No this can’t be. You’re lying, you must be lying. How can the chief be dead?”
“Yeah, this must be a trick, how can they transform with Abah right next to them. She had the Jiaqin Codex with her as well, she could suppress all of our transformations by herself, how could the strongest amongst us lose it like that. It doesn’t make any sense.”
The crowd was growing rowdy and a few had dangerous glares and began to approach.
Sam dropped the boars at his side. Wrapping his arm in armor, he gave a back fist to the wall behind him.
*BAM!*
A loud crash rang out within the cave silencing everyone. The villagers looked at where Sam’s fist connected with the cave wall and several long cracks ran up it, stretching halfway to the ceiling like lightning.
Those with dangerous glares were cooled off by the cold sweat that had formed on their foreheads. They changed their attitudes and backed off. Sam released the earth gauntlet around his hand and returned to his calm natural state once more.
Instead of becoming angry with the villagers Nunully looked saddened.
“I know this is hard to accept but every word I speak is the truth. Abah gave up her life force, pouring it into the black stone tablet. With her using every fiber of her being, the chief protecting me and my friend catching Mei off guard, only then were we just able to slay her. That though only sealed her doom and didn’t kill her immediately. In her final death throes, she took the chief’s life and my friends. Abah had survived the battle but she had given up too much of her life force and she lay dying in my arms. As she took her final breaths she apologized to me and Sam. She confessed to us that she didn’t trust us and had tampered with the other villager’s Limiter tattoos. This is how Mei’s screech had affected them so much. Abah had messed with their Limiter tattoo’s unleashing their strength however in doing so she made them several times more susceptible to Mei’s power, causing irreparable harm.”
When these words fell a few people in the crowd shared similar looks with one another.
“She actually did it, that old fool actually did such a crazy thing.”
A man yelled at the one who spoke.
“Watch your mouth. How dare you speak foully of Abah, there’s no way she would do such a thing. This girl must be lying.”
The old woman from earlier spoke over him.
“No, it’s true. Abah and I were close friends and she had told me she didn’t trust these people fully. I saw her mess with the Limiter tattoos, the very same day the warriors left our cave to capture Mei. This girl, she isn’t lying.”
Another old man spoke up as well.
“She’s right. My son was strong, one of the strongest among this village but he also couldn’t keep his tongue from wagging. He bragged to me recently that Abah had unleashed his strength. I didn’t know then what he meant but now…Damn it all.”
The villagers lowered their heads in sadness and a few began to pray for their souls.
Nunully waved her hand and a ring that looked exactly like Kazuki’s glowed momentarily before a broken tablet fell out.
As soon as the people saw it, they gasped.
“The Jiaqin Codex, it’s…it’s been destroyed!”
Nunully gently handed it over to the old woman.
“When Abah’s life finally ended, the tablet broke in two. I guess the connection between her and the tablet was strong.”
The old woman for the first time since she received the news began to cry. She held the Jiaqin Codex close to her chest and cried. Through the tears and pain she asked.
“My friend, what has become of her body?”
Nunully shook her head.
“During the fight, my friend and the chief were taken high into the sky and in the midst of an aerial battle, the death blow was delivered. However, when they fell, Mei refused to let them go in her final moments and all three crashed together and died. Falling and crashing from such a height, the bodies were all intertwined and could no longer be separated properly. Sam and I decided it was best to cremate them all. I thought it would be best to cremate Abah along with her brother and the other villagers. I thought that would be what they wanted.”
The old woman nodded in appreciation.
“Thank you.”
The ring on Nunully’s finger glowed once more and a few Beast cores fell out.
“After we cremated everyone, the Beast cores were recovered but as you can see, they have all been damaged. The ones that were the most unstable, I had no choice but to seal them away and dispose of them properly.”
The old woman tried to take the Beast cores but Nunully put them back into the ring. This caused everyone to be confused.
“Miss?”
“These Beast cores can not be returned as they are compensation for me and my friend.”
A few villager’s eyes grew wide in anger and they were about to shout when the old woman raised a hand to silence them. She stared at Nunully for a moment trying to discern something before she asked.
“These are important to us, how can you claim it as compensation?”
Nunully slowly put her mask back on and her tone turned cold.
“The agreement we had originally reached was for us to capture Mei and bring her back. That part of the bargain was completed without fail. You and your people though, because of the errors Abah committed my friends died cruel deaths, unreasonable deaths. These cores will be sold to the highest bidder and the money earned from them will be delivered to the families of my fallen comrades. I doubt you will disagree with that, however, if you do, I and my friend have brought you something.”
Sam picked up the 2 boars as well as the few hundred pounds of vegetables and placed them in front of the woman.
The villager’s eyes went wide in anger.
“Are you saying that our villager’s lives are worth so little?”
Nunully shook her head.
“No, I wouldn’t be so low. Outside the cave, there are several tons of food waiting. This is what took me and my friend so many days to finally enter here. We were gathering enough food for you all.”
Hearing that there was a small hill of food outside the villagers grew antsy with anticipation. Still, there were a few who couldn’t accept this and yelled.
“We are just supposed to accept this and look the other way, while you two take our brethren’s cores? Do you truly believe we are that cold?”
Nunully rebutted them.
“Look around you, look at the children’s faces. Look at how thin they are as their cheekbones nearly pierce the skin. Look at their ribs, should you be able to see every single one of them? Is that natural for you to see? Your people are starving. Are you really willing to be so stubborn and deny them food over a Beast core? Were it my child, I’d give up a million Beast cores if it meant I could fill my child’s stomach. I suppose you’re right, though. If you all truly don’t wish to have the food, I guess I can hand over these damaged Beast cores, however, I’ll be burning the food when I leave.”
The ring on Nunully’s finger glowed and the Beast cores fell out one by one in her hand. She slowly set them down and turned to leave. She didn’t even get half a step before shouts of panic rang out behind her.
“No! Wait! Keep them, please keep those useless things.”
“Yes, what she said, who needs them. Food, please let us keep the food.”
“Forgive us, some people do not know how to accept kindness.”
“My child needs food, anyone who denies her a meal will have to deal with me.”
The old woman from before snatched the Beast cores from the ground and practically shoved them into Nunully’s hands.
“Fair is fair, we accept.”
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