Its battle time!

Iskra, a spotty-haired woman on a long and probably impossible quest, continued on, pausing only at intervals to sniff the dusty winds as she murmured.

"Sheol ei abaddon, nod flagn si to..."

An invisible aura of magic whirled around her like a stiff wind. She was practicing as she walked, and she wasn't exactly sure how she'd come against so much water, but these lands seemed to be covered in the stuff.

She happened to look to her left and noticed a sweaty training ground.

One look up at the sun told her it was midday.

There was enough time.

Iskra paused her meditations for a moment and shuffled over to a prominent one with a stick in his hand. It was only to take a long, deep sniff of him near the back of his neck. The blue-eyed one appeared to have no concept of personal space.

But this wasn't the human she was looking for.

Turning, she resumed her dark mutterings and began to walk off of the training grounds towards the wilderness from which she'd come.

[ EXP: 243 ]

To all appearances, the woman hadn't heard him. And considering the distance that she'd gained, that was likely reasonable. The man's voice was drowned out with her own murmurings.

"Ish'ka elei zugh'n gus..."

Apparently the fighter was no longer important to the spotty-haired female. Her own words preoccupied her.

[ EXP: 102 ]

Iskra wrinkled her nose in unconcealed disgust. For a moment, she thought a good, stiff growl might scare him off, but dealing with humans was never that simple. Besides, his "clan" seemed to be at his back.

"I am looking for someone," she said in an annoyed manner. "And when I find that someone, that someone must die. Count yourself lucky."

[ EXP: 114 ]

Rolling her eyes was a gesture beyond her rather weak collection of human facial expressions for the moment, but if she was aware of such a thing, she would've done it.

"What is your purpose in asking me these questions and blocking my path? Will it affect your life one way or the other if I should say that someone killed my clan or if I should say that perhaps I like to kill random Somebodies for fun?"

She'd spoken before she'd really stopped to consider that humans were an inquisitive race by nature and often asked meaningless questions.

"It is a favor I am doing for a demon in exchange for knowledge. Perhaps you know of such creatures."

[ EXP: 178 ]

Iskra found it mildly interesting that he'd somehow detected that she was a demon despite the fact that she only mentioned serving one. Maybe it was the spotted hair that gave her away. Maybe the way she wandered like a nomad, interested in nobody and nothing but the goal she had in her head. She would bring back the head of this person she'd been assigned to kill in some distant land and thus gain the knowledge she hungered for... the power.

"I'm not a demon, I am a hyena," she stated bluntly, as though it should've been apparent at first glance that she was a spirit who was of Terra and not of the pits of hell. If she were, why, she might have killed him already. Every being she came across in the chaotic realm was just pointlessly vicious. They weren't like the wild and largely neutral spirits of the north forest who didn't waste time or energy in these massive wars of attrition against themselves and anything else. Wild spirits were sensible. Sane.

Partially for that reason, she felt that her teacher's motives and her own might come into conflict at some point. She rather liked living and reality, and she didn't want to see it altered in any major way. Jack could not guarantee her a future of stability.

But for now, she wondered at this human and his stick following her around. "How long have you been off of your mother's breast?" she said curiously. "You fight with a stick. Is that some sort of safety thing for humans who haven't practiced enough to use a pointed weapon?"

She didn't mean it as an insult intentionally, but he seemed very... naive to her. He knew she was a malevolent spirit, but instead of driving her off for the safety of himself and his village like most strangers of the human race would, he was calling her "cute". Like a child too close to a pretty fire and reaching a grubby hand out.

[ EXP: 423 ]

A slight frown tugged at the corners of the hyena spirit's face. It was a stick. A big, heavy, stick. It was ridiculous to think that he would fight with such a thing when there were so many more better options available. He might as well have picked up a weasel and called it his weapon. It bothered her in a way, though she'd used a particularly large femur to beat a succubus into unconsciousness once before. That was only because she didn't particularly need a good weapon to fight her. Either way, this human appeared to come from some sort of armed encampment, so surely he had better weapons available to him.

"Hot like the sun... wet like the rain... You really should learn to fight with something more substantial than a stick. It may be a fang, yes, but a blunted tooth is no good to its owner. It rots and kills the beast whose mouth it is in."

After the first few syllables of her statement, an only slightly visible horde of spiritual symbols, the souls of deceased creatures whose deaths she had attended and in many cases assisted, swarmed up, their final emotions of pain on the air like some malevolent electricity. Should the spell go correctly, they would possess the human, firing off his nerves with a dreadful empathy, making him feel as though he was being eaten alive by an entire clan of hyenas, as though his entrails were spilling out though there was nothing visibly wrong with him. Indeed, a normal human wouldn't even spot the spiritual particles that suddenly came from all corners.

[ EXP: 344 ]

Used Malady (Stage 3, Mastered)
Effects: Causes Poison
Drain: -23 STA

Humans held prejudice against non-kami spirits. This was common knowledge among both the demonic beasts and the higher spirits. Most of the creatures in the former category gave villages a wide berth unless they actually wanted a fight.

But the pair had gained quite a bit of distance from the safe harbor of the training grounds and some brush for her to disappear into wasn't far off. Humans tended to be strong, yes, but there was a limit to their tricks. She only took a couple of steps back at first. She was hungry and perhaps this young one would make a nice meal for her.

But such a thing wasn't likely. If she had to run from the quickly closing man, she could do so more easily without the weight of a grown man on her back, though she imagined she might still be able to get away either way.

"You're the one who came to talk to me. Our kind are enemies, person."

Her eyes weren't on the one on the ground in pain, but instead at the newcomer who was coming so swiftly.

[ EXP: 255 ]

Attack: None
Info: 2 more turns on poison
Stamina: -18

The spirit backed up as the teacher arrived on the scene. The problem was that, were she to turn her back on the new person, it would impair her ability to dodge any follow up attacks that he did.

On top of that, this man was obviously prejudiced. He insisted that the young staff wielder hadn't threatened her when he'd approached her, an act in itself that was inherently hostile to her. Beasts generally didn't approach each other and attempt to strike up friendly banter, especially if their two species were enemies. It made her uncomfortable for him to be so close, and she reacted.

But it wasn't this new human's job to see her side of things, apparently, and she knew any words she had to say would be wasted on him. She was an oni, an "evil" spirit who had used a spell on the "unoffending" weapon user.

Not that it bothered her. She was able to sidestep the energy wave with some ease, her hair waving in the wind off of the shockwave, and she didn't have to be very close to the boy to continue the magic assault. Her objective at this point was to simply get the man to leave so she could escape in peace.

"You should be taking him to get medical help," she said bluntly before she mumbled another spell with her odd, dark syllables.

Claws of chill crawled across the ground, coming to the fallen soldier and embracing him with their cold fury.

[ EXP: 333 ]

Attack: None
Info: 1 more turns on poison
Stamina: -21
Enemy HP: 80

Iskra didn't attack for the moment. Rather, she refused to let the person before her close properly and concentrated on moving out of the way of his slash when he quickly moved forward.

At that moment, if she had pity in her for "prey", she might have felt sorry for the poor guy trying to crawl back to his village without the aid of his teacher because said teacher was preoccupied with fighting a demon who was only trying to continue about her journey. It was a sizable waste of time, that she was sure of.

Yet, she fought because she was supposed to for now. Somehow she thought this hardheaded person wouldn't be satisfied with simply letting her retreat and continue on her way, but it couldn't hurt her to ask.

"Hey, person..." she started, having just barely moved out of the way of a descending blade. "I don't really want to fight you. I've got some person I need to kill and it is not you. Perhaps you could go back to your village peaceably?"

[ EXP: 248 ]

Attack: None
Stamina: -16
Enemy HP: 32.5

The woman firmly continued to digress, moving further and further backwards. In fact, it was her towards-the-treelines motions that prevented the feint from actually working on her. By the time he threw the dagger, she had more than enough time to move, the motion being relatively slow and obvious. It separated a small bit of her hair from its source, however, and the small lock fell to the ground like a tainted snowflake. She sighed. There were no other options.

"I said, why don't you stop bothering me and go back to your village?"

As she spoke, the symbols rose up from the ground themselves, as though beckoned from the red and black belly of hell. Animal spirits. Dead animal spirits. Symbols that swam like fishes in the air and flowed like a flood of strange color towards the offending man.

Should the spell be successful, they would embrace him like a malevolent wind and drive the same pain through his body that they drove through his student's body.

Whether it hit or miss, Iskra wouldn't be around to find out. She had a place to go, and she needn't tarry in this area. There was a lot of ground for her to cover on this road ahead.

[ EXP: 282 || +1 TEXP (5th post) ]

Attack: Malady
Stamina: -39