Amelia and Ophelia: The Former Grand Duchess and Saintess.

The night was cold as the snow continued to fall, the full moon providing the only source of light to guide their path along the winding and confusing forest snowy paths that lay in front of a group of slaves comprising a total of 18 of them, all of them beaten and bruised by running like there was no tomorrow. The grey rags that were their clothes fluttered in the cold breeze, their tracks were left in the snow they ran across and their breaths were visible in the cold frigid air. 

"C'mon! All of you! Let's keep going!" The leading slave, who was a bruised and beaten but still very much alluring and beautiful kitsune by the name of Takawa, urged her fellow slaves to keep running. 

She turned her gaze back to the group and saw torches in the distance getting closer and closer, causing her to grit her teeth and curse as she and her group continued to run, they needed to get as far as they could from the dukedom and thankfully they were assigned to slave work on the border, giving them a good chance to make a break for it if the chance presented itself. That chance presented itself tonight thankfully, with the magi-collars on their necks going through a brief recycling process that powered it down and allowed the C and D-Rank slaves to book it without the fear of their magi-collars shocking them, and thanks to the distance they gained, their handler could not be able to shock them once the collars came back on. 

'Just a few more meters' Takawa thought as they were nearing a large split in the snowy trail, her eyes locking onto a tree trunk lying down on the side of the road 

She ran over to the tree trunk while the rest of her fellow slaves continued running straight, with some looking over at her 

"Keep going! Do not stop!" She ordered, with the slaves listening to her 

'Try to take me back there huh? In your fucking dreams!' She thought as she found what she was looking for inside the tree trunk 

She pulled out a pair of long and curved daggers with a ring in the end for her finger to go through, and a set of jagged and chunky jet-black plate armor chest piece and a helmet. She took a glance up to see the slavers getting closer and began to scramble to get her gear on, and thanks to her training as a H.I.S.S. field agent, she was drilled to just wear the chest piece and then tap twice on the center which will allow the rest of the suit to unfold from the singular chest piece. 

Doing just that, Takawa quickly wore the chest piece and tapped it twice, with the many pieces of the suit quickly breaking off and reforming at her limbs and the rest of her body before she began letting her anger flow through her. Pouring her magical energy into the collar that overloaded which cracked and broke into pieces before dropping onto the ground, as the magi-collars had one flaw, if they were restraining a being that had a much larger power ranking, they were easy to overload, and thanks to Takawa's training in suppressing her own power ranking, the collar could be put on without any suspicion to her true self. 

The slavers had now closed the distance and they totaled a group of ten and they stopped in their tracks once they got a clear view of who they were facing. 

"Who the hell are you?" One of the slavers holding a chain asked 

"Your death" Takawa replied as she showed her weapons and rushed forward

{!} 

When she rushed forward, several chains were thrown her way to try and immobilize her. But she quickly cut them apart thanks to her daggers, slicing through the metal like a hot knife through butter. This was due to her channeling some fire magic into the weapon to give her a better chance at slicing and it was showing, she then closed in on the closest slaver and swung with her right dagger, cutting deep into his throat and out the other end, nearly decapitating the dude whose head was only hanging on thanks to a thin strip of muscle and tissue. 

"What the?!"

"Fucking get her!" 

The other slavers were now spooked as they tried to rush her, pulling out daggers and knives as they charged forward. Takawa met them head-on as she dodged the thrust from the first slaver and replied by slashing downward with her left and cutting off his arm before following it up with another right slash that tore his neck open and then using the body as cover as another assailant missed their slash and instead cut the corpse in front of her. She then moved in to attack as she ducked underneath the slaver's second slash and replied by slashing across his abdomen, with her left dagger going in deep before she pulled it out and followed up with another upward slash with her right that cut into his chest and then into his neck before it exited, spurting blood as it did so. 

She then sensed another slaver trying to attack her from behind, prompting her to do a full spin and land another slash across the face of the slaver, with the cut going from his cheek and down to his neck, making him gurgle blood as he died. With four of their number already dead, the remaining six were getting nervous as they were not trained to fight like this, even the singular Dukedom Knight assigned to them was having a hard time keeping track of her movements. 

Takawa meanwhile was still in the zone, her mind focusing on the task at hand and keeping track of the slavers left, all of them were wearing very light leather armor which provided little to no protection against her heated daggers, while the Dukedom Knight who could pose a challenge was not moving, but if he did, she had faith in her equipment and skills to get her through this. 

'Fuck this, I do not have time' She thought as she quickly gathered her magical energy and looked at the Dukedom Knight, seeing him flinch 

{!} 

She then lunged forward and fired off a <Fire Ball> spell that shot from her hand, sending a medium-sized fireball that smashed into the chest and sent him reeling, it also provided a small flash that allowed the kitsune agent to land a cut on the right side of the knight, her heated blade tearing through flesh and armor as she passed him, but once she was behind him, she quickly followed up with a downward stab that struck his neck right on the spine which caused him to shriek, she then grunted as she then pressed forward and drove her dagger downward and completely tearing through his back, the crunching sounds of bones being crushed and armor twisted and racked filled the air as she did this and once she was done, the Dukedome Knight fell face forward, with his back spurting blood. 

She then looked at the remaining five slavers and lunged forward again, slashing and cutting them apart, with her daggers driving through their leather armor with ease and crushing bone and flesh in their way. She dodged and ducked from each of their failed attacks only to reply with her own that cut them down in a few swings, she even dodged a sword swing from a slaver who picked up the claymore of the fallen knight before promptly cutting his hand off and then jabbing her right dagger into his throat, and then pulling it out while watching the young slaver choke on his own blood as he died at her feet. 

"sigh...That's that" She sighed as she looked around at the dead bodies staining the white snow at her feet before holstering her daggers on her sides 

She quickly reorganized herself as she checked the tree trunk one more time, snatching a bag of holding that was hiding in its corner before quickly following the trail of footprints left by her fellow slaves, using her tail to swipe them aside as she followed them to throw off their trail. After about ten minutes, she found all 17 of them huddled around inside a cave, with all of them hiding behind rocks and even wielding some sticks and stones as weapons. She then placed an invisibility and sensory blocking barrier at the cave entrance to conceal them. 

"Glad to see you're all ok" Takawa remarked as she walked into the cave, with the slaves a bit hesitant but then walking out to her, seeing that her armor was stained and covered in blood 

"Umm...Big Sis...who are you?" One of the wolf beastkin kids by the name of Kla asked as he approached her and looked up at her 

"Uhh...I, I am a...a warrior" Takawa answered him 

"A warrior? I have never seen such a warrior who wields those types of weapons or even wear that curious set of armor" An orc slave by the name of Bas chimed in with a skeptical glance 

"You are right...these types of weapons and armor pieces are ones you do not typically expect tribes to have, but I am from no such tribe, I used to be...but not anymore" 

"Is it because you were disgraced?" 

"Were you cast out?" 

"Did you do something wrong?" A few questions were fired from Kla's mother, another wolf beastkin and two others, an elf by the name of Sinica, and a dragonkin without his wings by the name of Furod

"No no nothing like that. It is more like we all joined one giant tribe" Takawa answered 

"Who do you mean we?" A human slave by the name of Groose asked 

"Well, kitsunes, beastkin, humans, elves" 

{!} 

All of them were left baffled by her words, "A tribe so diverse with so many species and races? Impossible" Is what they all thought, but when they saw the seriousness in her eyes, they could tell she was not lying to them, and even if she were, there was no explanation for how she had that set of armor that was fashioned so neatly, with the metalwork resembling that of dwarven manufacturing but still holding onto certain design aspects of a kitsune, if she wasn't lying then it would mean that the tribe Takawa is part of is one that can overpower the many tribes on the continent, as their fractured and constant bickering has left them easy prey to be swept aside.

"Umm...Big Sis, what is the name of your tribe?" Kla asked while still keeping his gaze on her 

"Halkare Kla...Halkare, that is the name of my tribe, my home" The blood-stained kitsune agent replied with a hint of sadness as she missed her home 

{!} 

Just then, Takawa's senses perked up and her ears twitched, her eyes also shifted upward and a scowl formed on her face as she gestured to the slaves to hide. Then, the sounds of metal boots moving through the snow were heard and the grumblings of a slaver search party were now being heard directly above them. 

"Did you see the team led by Knight Thaddeus yet?" A young man's voice asked 

"No, not yet. I suspect he and his team are searching south, they were the first to give chase while we had to get ourselves ready. Damn magi-collar cyclings are getting more noticeable by them damn cretins" An older voice answered the young man

Then, the team was heard moving down from where they stood on the top of the cave and sure enough, they came into view as they were seen entering view from the right slope going down towards the cave. The burning lanterns showing only five slavers were present including a Dukedom Knight. 

"Should we check that cave over there?" One of them asked 

"Nah, if there were in there, Sir Titus here would have sensed them, am I right?" The older slaver replied as he turned to the knight, with the knight nodding in reply 

"Ah, I see" 

The group then turned their back on the cave and began walking away, with the knight in the front who acted as a bloodhound, the slaves in the cave saw Takawa unholster and brandish her twin long daggers before lowering her stance, her breathing getting slower before she used her skill <Quick Step> which made her quietly glide through the snow and right behind the closest slaver on the left, throwing out a downward slash with her right dagger that struck the neck and then continued all the way down to the end of the back, the sounds of bone being crushed and flesh being torn apart startling the rest of the search party that turned their gazes to her direction.

"What the-" 

But before the other slaver who was a young man could react, she bolted forward and threw and uppercut with her daggers, the blade punching through his chin and into his brain, the body buckling as she then pulled her daggers out and kicked the corpse onto the knight who was sent reeling from his comrade being launched at him. 

"You bastard! He was just a kid!" The older slaver yelled as he charged forward, 

He caught a downward slash fired off by the kitsune with an upward block but he failed to block the other dagger that punched through his chin and into his brain, 

"And so were those people you slaughtered" Takawa growled as she then pulled her dagger out and fired off a slash that decapitated him, kicking the head towards the knight who was still reeling from the sudden violence. 

The last of the slavers tried to fire off magic but the kitsune agent closed the gap quickly and sliced both of his hands off before landing several deep cuts on his chest and then a final one that tore his face open and sent him crashing onto the snowy ground. She then turned her gaze to the knight who was now raising his claymore at her, she could see the subtle shaking of the blade and she cast her gaze down towards his hands. 

{?}

But the moment she took a step forward, the knight threw down his claymore and began sprinting away, yelling out "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" As he was slowly getting away. Takawa was confused for a moment before she quickly grabbed the claymore and chucked it like a javelin, skewering the Dukedom Knight through his chest before he collapsed, with the kitsune agent slowly making her way towards him and slitting his throat for good measure. 

Returning back to the cave, she saw that the slaves were all looking at her with wide eyes of amazement, even the kids who had their mouths agape. 

"Where did you learn to fight like that Big Sis?" Kla asked with amazement 

"I will answer that later, but for now. I have my own question. Do you wish to travel with me back to my home far in the north for safety or do you wish to return to your tribes and be subjected to another chance of being caught and enslaved?" She asked as she placed her hand and ruffled the head of the young wolf beastkin 

"We will return with you, our tribes have failed us" Was the response she got from one of the Harpy's in the group, with the others nodding at her words 

"Since you are all coming with me, pick up the weapons of those dead slavers and anything valuable, we have a long trip ahead of us" 

A/N: Another chapter done. These three have been in the process of writing and rewriting so to see them finally done in quick succession is nice to say the least. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I had fun making it and if you got comments, you know the drill at this point hehehehe.  And as always, Stay Safe and Enjoy Your Day!