Red Warrior, Quiet Hunter

Chapter 4: The Water Fight

村人

The villagers heard a strange wind and smelled the strong scent of sulphur. Then, Akai appeared. She told Shizukana to talk to her after the battle. Shizukana was surprised. He only knew of her as the girl with the red sword. Akai then told the villagers to go inside and to stay inside until it is quiet because the oni were coming. Most of the villagers left, except for Kowai Hito and his few allies. He said that she was the oni, and she was trying to kidnap Shizukana. Akai pointed out that she would have killed them all if she was an oni. Kowai and his allies went inside. Akai told Shizukana to watch from a safe place. THe oni crouched and snuck up, but Akai knew they were there. "Fire Barrier!" shouted Akai and instantly the village, including Shizukana were safe behind the barrier Akai cast. Then, the oni attacked with yells and screams as they charged Akai. She cut down large numbers of them with just her sword, but there was still Ryuketsu to deal with. Akai let down the barrier so she could use her arrows of fire. Just then, Ryuketsu charged and pinned Akai down. She felt his weight and saw his mouth full of stinky teeth. He pulled out a sword and raised it to her neck. Just then, Shizukana let out a blast of water, and it splashed Ryuketsu. He lowered the sword, which allowed Akai to escape and ready her fire arrows. She launched them and they landed in Ryuketsu. He collapsed and spilled blood all over the once-green field. Akai was shocked by the boy and decided to meet him more formally.

猟師

Shizukana was bewildered. "How did the girl defeat the oni and use fire? More importantly, how did I use water?" he thought. He walked over to Akai and introduced himself as Shizukana Ryoshi. Akai introduced herself as Akai Senshi and told him he was a member of the Ryoshi family. Shizukana was skeptical and asked why. Akai explained his hunting skills, his looks, his weapon and the water blast and he understood.

戦士

Akai was very surprised. She didn't know that there were others like her, especially water element magicians. She vowed to get to know him, and to research elemental magicians. She thought, "Wait a minute... Elements can't be that different, maybe I can train him! And if I can train him, maybe he can help me with defeating the oni!" Akai told Shizukana that he should come with her to learn more about her fire powers, and to learn more about his water powers. Shizukana was a bit skeptical about her, but she did save the whole village from the oni. They walked to Akai's house by the edge of the forest. She told Shizukana about the book from which she got her fire spells, and said that there would probably be a water book for them to learn about. They entered her massive library and looked for a dusty old blue book with fading color. Eventually, Akai found a book called "Water Enchantments for the young Mage." Shizukana asked what it meant, and Akai explained that Enchantments were spells, and mages were magicians like her. Shizukana asked if "like her" meant a fire person. Akai denied that, and explained the four elements, and that she was a fire elemental. She also said that Shizukana was a water elemental. There were two other elementals, an earth and a wind elemental. Akai also explained the concept of the oni and the price humanity would pay, and the fact that all the elementals would come together at the final moment. If all four elementals were there when the oni lord attacked, they would be invincible because of the guardian spirit. THe guardian spirit couldn't stand the oni, but she relied on the elementals to convey parts of her spirit.