THIS IS PART TWO OF TWO. If you've yet to read through Act One, I suggest you do that first.
Most days, you can find Mizuki Nekoyama in Hell, creeping through pitch-black passages, disabling deadly traps, and avoiding even-deadlier monsters.
But that's the job of a Scout; highly-trained and extremely-capable individuals willing to brave the Depths in exchange for money, power and prestige. Most often, however, their careers are cut short between heartbeats if they let their guard down for just a single second.
For the past five years, Mizuki, or 'Zen', has lived with the guilt that comes with losing her friends and lover inside one of the nation's Dungeons, and has searched far and wide for the person she believes is responsible for their tragic demise.
She might be obsessive, compulsive, brutal, and slightly crazed, yet its exactly those traits which will allow her to progress in her mission; track down her quarry; and along the way found an organization capable of bringing entire nations to their knees.
(Note: Cover Art ripped from a Google search. Whomever the creator is has an amazing talent, and I hope they go on to do Many Great Things.)
DISCLAIMER, in BIG, BOLD LETTERS:
This fictional tale deals with topics including, but not limited to: Slavery, Brutal uses of Swords and Magic, Murder, Racism, Sex, LGBT-Q, Political Intrigue, Rape, Torture, Bloody Slaughter, and much, much more.
Naturally, there's also a lot of laughter, love, excitement, action, and suspense.
Comments and feed-back are always appreciated, as are shares, likes, votes, and other positive reinforcements. Trolls can just slink back under their bridges.
When magical beasts cross into Japan through portals, magical huntresses (and some magical huntsmen) are there to slay them. Consisting of a group of teenagers and young adults working semi-independently under the guise of the Protection and Research Agency, they fight day in and day out for a variety of reasons, using special rings to transform and gain weapons to use in their battles, for which they get paid for each magical beast they kill and bonuses if they save anyone attacked by them.
One particular magical huntress, the sword-swinging orphan Ruka Kishio, is asked to join a small group of these hunters led by the charismatic Hana Miyashita, who herself wields a katana and is descended from former nobility, after Hana sees Ruka easily kill a beast by herself while on lunch break from school. Ruka, a girl with a troubled and at times traumatic past who usually fought alone, accepts after barely losing a sword duel to Hana. She soon finds herself bonding with the other members of the Fox Knights, in particular their second-in-command and only boy Yoshiro Arikawa despite the two of them frequently arguing, and she also finds herself becoming its third-in-command and primary trainer as they battle magical beast after magical beast.
However, Hana has deeper ambitions to restore the honor of her family name, and she aspires to attain power by any means necessary. Can Ruka help Hana with her dreams, or will she be swept up in them?
(Specific warnings: Mentions/depictions of abuse committed by some antagonists, graphic depictions of violence, homophobia/transphobia by some antagonists.)
Cover art by littleruby726. Follow them for more great art on Twitter.
Part of the We're DEFINITELY Going To Be Novelists Writing Collective.