My Servant System

"Another Tza Fiend though... I wonder how eccentric this one will be. Hera, was there anything about its capabilities inside of the report? And is there anything else that we might just need to know about as we head to Bascra?"

Our mounts bounded over the sand dunes with ease, carrying all of our weight and moving faster than they had any right to as they helped to get us from point a to point b all in a few hours, crossing miles upon miles of nothingness faster than we could on foot.

The wind whipping against our bodies caused the riding robes we were wearing to press against our skin, whilst the veils that Hera recommended we wear protected us from the harsh barrage of sand that threatened to slice through our skin and whittle down our strength even before we reached our destination.

"Little was described about the Fiend besides it’s mastery over area of effect spells and a penchant for making use of the sand itself; if I had to guess, Begum, the cause of this minor sandstorm would be the Fiend we are heading towards. Additionally, there were unconfirmed mentions of the Fingers making an appearance at Bascra as well, which is... troublesome." Anput clicked her tongue at that, and before we could ask Hera said "The Fingers are a group of meddlesome and irritating rogues that make a living off of the old ways of the Sultanate; take whatever they want whenever they can from those weaker than them, and making it a problem for the rest of us. Their current leader is a former candidate for the Death Jackals, and as such he has a little bit of an understanding of our strategies. At least enough to make hunting them down a pain in the ass."

"Besides being overbearing pricks who murder innocents for fun, they travel between the Sultanate and the Wekalian Steppes, trafficking slaves and drugs for whatever price people are willing to pay. The worst part is they have quite a few adept mages at their disposal who have come up with a suite of gear perfect for remaining unseen and leaving behind no traces. No scent, no visible traces, nothing at all."

"Well that’s fun. So how do you end up with unconfirmed mentions of a group like this? Like someone told someone that they saw someone who looked like someone in the Fingers? Or whatever that random group name is? ’Cause you need about that many someone’s to get an ’unconfirmed mention’ of a rather infamous trafficking group that murders for fun."

I smirked beneath my veil as I looked towards Hera, the cloaked Death Jackal shaking her head slightly as she ignored my dig at her and instead just said "It’s unconfirmed because it could have just been a random group of bandits hoping to strike it big by raiding one of the ruins or the libraries. Either way, there is some nefarious group up to no good at Bascra alongside that Fiend."

She fell silent after that, leaving us to travel over the sands for the next hour or so as we mentally prepared ourselves for the fight to come, all while the surrounding atmosphere only grew more hostile the closer we got to Bascra.

The winds were slowly becoming faster and more volatile as they pushed against us, threatening to throw us off of the back of the Jackals we were riding, or at the very least tear through our robes as it whistled past us.

With the addition of the sands being picked up and hurtling towards us at insane speeds too, this journey was certainly a grueling one, with the area around us darkening as more sand rose into the air and created clouds around us, blocking out the sun and trapping the heat that managed to penetrate through as we were slowly battered and cooked at the same time.

I didn’t even need to see Kat’s face to know that the Ice Mage was hating every second of this, her rigid posture and constant mumbling and grumbling as she shrouded herself in a frosty haze to beat the heat and redirect the sand.

The rest of us simply created a shield of mana in front of us and maintained the simple barrier as our mounts ran through the walls of sand, and before I knew it we were heading even deeper into the sand, coming face to face with the city we were going to save.

Or more accurately, we came face to face with the Fiend that we were going to be battling and killing, the first impression as always causing me to pause as I just took in how twisted they were in appearance, something that seemed to be a constant amongst all Fiends; they were apparently born of the world, and that showed with how they were warped creatures given mortal form.

Before us stood a rather tall and domineering blue skinned man that might have even passed as a long lost Asmodia Demon if it wasn’t for the fact that instead of a normal head, this Fiend had a iridescent feather headdress that sprouted from their skin, and as the Fiend turned to face us, we were greeted with the sight of a oily, rainbow feathered bird glaring at us like we had just ruined its fun.

Which... we technically had as we instantly slipped off the Jackals and erected defenses in case it decided to attack first and ask questions later, but like Cali had stated before it seemed that most of these Fiends nowadays weren’t believing in being able to be defeated by mortals, so our opponent just stared at us for a few moments before scoffing.

"Excellent, even more irritating pests show up... perhaps you can be the appetizers for one as great as I. This city was a tough nut to crack, but I think I have it’s weakness discovered; it shall be only another hour before those libraries are returned to their rightful and true owner."

A regality attempted to seep into the bird’s vocal cords as it gestured at the city, only to sound relatively pathetic since the barrier was holding strong and it’s power was barely making a dent in the mana reservoirs of both the mages and the array itself.

Of course I could just be wrong about it, and it could have been poking and prodding this barrier this entire time with weak attacks, so I didn’t lower my guard and assume an arrogant stance of ’I will overpower this Fiend easily’, even though I knew it was accurate...

We would overpower this Fiend easily, anyways...

It seemed that more often than not, Fiends tended to follow a theme with how they looked; Tza Fiends were typically rather sharp and smart looking in appearance, taking after animals that were rather well known for their intellect, whilst Ka Fiends were muscular and

Murderous...

Seeing the chicken thing in front of us flaunting its brilliant feathers and raising a golden scepter as it attempted to mimic a righteous and regal tone made sense, though just because it made sense didn’t mean that the two dozen or so Ritual Circles that just appeared in the air around the Fiend were any less dangerous.

"As soon as I have access to my libraries again, I can finally - FINALLY! - bring about a true golden age for the Sultanate! An age of expansion and prosperity, an age where we stand above the rest of the world as a wellspring of knowledge and wealth! A fertile land brimming

With life!"

What appeared to be simple boulders were shot at us rapidly, each one threatening to flatten us before we could even get a word in otherwise to communicate with this Fiend, and with little known about the attacks our opponent actually used, we opted for evasive maneuvers instead of battling through these boulders, at least...

All of us except Leone, who tested a few of those boulders with small and blindingly fast bolts of flame that cracked them open, revealing large quantities of sand that continued to rush towards the Vampire despite the shell no longer existing as a whole.

Clicking its tongue, the Fiend waved its scepter to the side and caused the rest of the boulders to explode prematurely, starting this fight off instantly as a wave of sand was thrown at us from point blank, the sharp grains of stone swirling together to form spears that would skewer us easily.

I opted for straight defense instead right now, pressing my palms against the ground and summoning a raw sphere of Light Mana around myself that blocked the sand spears, each one smacking against the dome and flattening itself into a curtain that slid down to the ground

Harmlessly.

Molding the mana after the initial bombardment, I studied the Fiend and watched as it raised the scepter again, summoning another volley of boulders with a shake of its head.

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