Chapter 13 Divergence

"I need more hands."

This is what Azi said to himself as he looked at the pieces of the blood steel sheets that he had finished infusing magical energies into. The magical tethers coming from his hands connected to the pieces and an idea clicked in his mind.

Looking over to the forge, Azi saw that numerous hammers of varying shapes and sizes that Kajima would always use were currently going unused. Extending his right hand out, Azi began focusing his attention to his tethers.

Currently he was moving two hammers and was connected to 5 pieces of Shizu custom weapons to prevent the magical energy in the pieces from dissipating.

He then began to split his right-hand's tether into more numerous small tethers. These then grabbed on to 4 more hammers and 2 metal tongs. Azi's mind felt fuzzy as the strain of performing the task on his mind was like a never-ending headache.

Grabbing a stamina potion, he down its contents quickly and then another. He felt the pain of the headache subside and his mind felt somewhat clearer.

While the stamina potions helped a person stay awake, the ingredient also acted as a way to recover a small amount of magical energy and increase focus and awareness.

With the newfound focus Azi began to work vigorously to create the pieces of Shizu's weapon.

Suddenly, Azi felt a bit nauseous and believed it could have been from his current state of health and over use of stamina potions, but he remembered that the potions had no after effect so he could not understand what was happening to him.

Taking a seat at the workshop table, Azi thought to take a quick break and began eating and drinking his fill. He finished off the remaining food in an hour and felt his headache subside a bit.

For some odd reason, he swore he could hear a voice in his head but chalked it up to just him starting to hallucinate from his lack of sleep.

Getting back to work, he now only needed to make the simple plates that would fit into the wooden skeletal frame of the Shizu's old metal umbrella, which was luckily undamaged due to Shizu's prior decision to dodge his attacks during their spar with her agility rather than blocking it head on.

Azi was able to have the 4 extra hammers and 2 metal tongs mirror his motions to pound and move the red-hot blood steel metal on separate anvils. It was difficult but midway through the third day Azi was getting used to the rhythm.

Kajima was surprised by this development but kept silent as he could see that Azi was in a state of intense focus. Any distraction would likely mess up the rhythm he found and Kajima would keep to his rule to not bother a fellow blacksmith who was working.

At times, Azi would take a quick bathroom break in the nearby restroom connected to the forge, but they were short as he immediately got back to work.

By the end of the third day, to Azi's surprise, had completed all 24 pieces of the umbrella.

He was now in the process of preparing himself to complete the last part of the infusion process.

With the fang of a beowolf, Azi began to inscribe each piece of the umbrella with the rune meaning "seal". This would give the umbrella the ability to contain magical energies which could then connect to the user as an external source of magical energies that they could call upon at will if they had enough skill to do so.

Azi thought this to be useful to Shizu, a physically focused warrior.

If she could increase her total supply of magical energies, it would allow her to reinforce herself more and in turn make her strikes infused with more strength.

By the end of the 4th day, Azi exhaustion was peaking. He had already drunk 4 more stamina potions and only had 2 left. The medicines he used to treat his burns and cuts had also run out faster than expected so he had to endure the slight twinges of pain he felt on his skin.

Since Azi was using an unorthodox method of forging and split his focus among his numerous tethers, it caused many strays sparks to burn him and many cuts to afflict him due to his inattention.

While his injuries did not affect the success of the infusion, his arms, legs, and chest were marred by numerous burns and cuts. Many of the sparks cut deep into his blacksmith attire and at times Azi worried that he might have been set ablaze by the sparks but thankfully his sweat acted as a water barrier.

Thinking to himself that he would have to thank Elder Sung and Kajima for their help after this, Azi then manipulated his tethers to move the forged pieces to a separate stone worktable. All the pieces were heated to a red hot color and he was about to connect all the pieces together.

To prepare himself, Azi drank the last of the stamina booster potions and then began to pour his magical energy through the tethers and into the forged pieces.

When it was the middle of the night and the moon was high in the sky, Azi had finally completed Shizu's weapon. This was signaled by a sudden flash of blue light erupting from the workshop. This was noticed by Kajima who was rushing home with a worried expression on his face which morphed into surprise by the sudden blue flash of light.

Worrying that the worst had occurred, Kajima rammed into the exterior entrance of the workshop with bags in hand and called out with panic in his voice.

"Azi! Are you ok! Answer me boy!"

Not surprised by the sudden intrusion, Azi continued to look on in awe at his own creation in front of him.

"I'm ok Kajima, just... tired. What's wrong?"

Azi replied with a calm tone and demeanor as his attention was still on his creation.

Seeing that Azi was alright, Kajima got straight to the point.

"Azi, there is trouble. It's Shizu."

Azi's attention turned to Kajima at the mention of Shizu and trouble. With a serious expression and unbridled focus, Azi demanded.

"Tell me everything."

*****

-2 Days Prior-

Decem 6th of the year 4831 AS

Shizu had gathered the two expedition parties for their mission briefing before setting out. Of the 100 personnel, 25 were veteran soldiers, 15 were veteran soldiers who recovered from their injuries, and the last 60 were volunteers who came to Shizu's call to aid in the expedition to help ensure the safety of Shizu's younger sister Rulu.

The 60 volunteers were motivated by their love and care for Rulu. Her poor health and backstory were known to them as the order Ozen gave to Rulu was a public announcement.

It broke their hearts to know that a young child was subjected to stay in one place and was unable to leave. Hearing that Rulu would finally be given a chance after all these years to step out of Kujyuri, they endeavored to ensure her safety while in Shisayama.

The 2 expedition teams were divided into groups of 50 and each one would take one of the forests that surrounded Shisayama.

The final areas to survey in the Eastern forest were going to be handled by a group consisting of 25 soldiers and 25 volunteers.

The areas in the western forest were going to be investigated by Shizu personally and she would be accompanied by 15 soldiers and 35 volunteers.

Each team had the use of 3 Kibusanshou to carry the required supplies and equipment to set up a temporary base for the investigation.

After final preparations were made, the teams had set out at noon and by nightfall both expedition teams made it to their assigned locations.

Shizu's expedition was currently set up at the exit of the forest that entered a clearing which led to the mountain to the western mountains. This was not an easily defendable area from the perspective of a general but due to the recent peace and that the only threats were the monsters, this was overlooked by Shizu.

When dawn broke, Shizu team began their investigation of the nearby areas that were not yet fully surveyed. As she expected, Shizu's team found many nests of kengiri but what was odd here was that there were no longer nests of singular kengiri but packs of 2 to 3. This was highly unusual as these packs were only seen in the mountains.

Deducing that they may have come down from the mountain, Shizu was still befuddled by why these kengiri were moving out of their original nesting places.

During the break in the afternoon, Shizu had gone to patrol the camp along with Touma who joined her on this expedition. He was concerned over the expression Shizu was making as she seemed troubled so he asked her a question to see if anything was wrong.

"Lady Shizu, what seems to be the problem?"

"Touma? Why do you think there are so many kengiri in the area?"

Thinking to himself a bit Touma gave the best answer he could muster from his still limited knowledge of the surrounding area.

"Maybe something else drove them this way or something agitated them."

"Possible, but what would be strong enough to scare off Kengiri. They are the apex predator in these parts. So if it's not the first reason then what could be agitating them."

Having no answer as he was more informed about thaumaturgy, he gave a suggestion that was more in his field.

"Would you like me to scan the area with my magic? We have already secured the area, but I can double check."

"That seems excessive but why not, go ahead Touma."

Nodding to Shizu, Touma took out a stamina potion and drank it. Shizu wondered why Touma would have such a potion as this was not issued in the supplies brought during the expedition.

"That's a stamina booster potion. Why do you have one with you?"

"Oh, this was given to me by your apprentice, he told me to use it when I needed it and this seemed like a good time. This really helps with long guard shifts, but after talking with Azi we found out that it helps improve focus. I thought that if I drank this it would help with my detection magic."

"*Sigh* He sure likes to make the rounds in the village when he can. I'll be sure to pay him back for his help when I get home."

After chuckling a bit with Shizu as they joked about Azi's recent activities in the village, Touma then focused his mind and began to channel his magic into the palms of his hands and into his staff. A white light began to form at the tip of his staff, when the light was as big as a fist Touma then raised his staff up and the light dissipated into small white waves that spread out into even concentric circles from around the tip of his staff.

The waves became imperceptible the farther the waves got from the staff, but Touma was able to sense whatever these waves came into contact with. These waves traveled slowly but had a range that was a few kilometers which gave quite a large area of detection.

Touma noticed a magical energy reaction in a nearby patch of forest closer to the mountain's path. He reported this to Shizu and accompanied her to survey the anomaly.

When they arrived, Shizu quickly pushed Touma into a nearby brush to act as cover. Motioning to him to keep silent, Shizu then peered a bit out of the bush.

To her surprise she saw the figures of two men. One had a red bandana masking his lower face and the other seemed to be garbed like a noble man. Hearing the men talking, Shizu focused her attention and began attempting to listen in.

"So how is business?"

"So far so good, but there's been trouble with the village guards. They keep messing with the kengiri and we can't get a chance to harvest them."

"Not to worry, you'll get paid as long as you keep using this."

The noble man then took out a black pouch and handed it to the red bandana man. The noble man then grinned and added.

"Oh and if you get the opportunity, use this on that Rulu girl. If we kill her, we'll be able to weaken Ozen and take all of the peasants' land. hahaha."

The noble man laughed loudly, but was interrupted by a sudden chill that ran down his spine.

Reflexively turning around, he saw the figure of a terrifying woman approaching him with a katana in hand. The shine of the blade shined against the woman's face and revealed her expression that had the eyes of a dead fish as the only emotion in her mind and in her aura was an intense red wrath.

Before anyone could react, Shizu attacked the noble looking man and was able to slice off one of his arms. As it fell to the ground Shizu approached the red bandana man.

Quickly reacting, the red bandana man threw the contents of the black bag at Shizu's feet. A horrid stench of what smelled like rotting meat and flesh soon overtook Shizu's sense of smell. Backstepping away from the contents on the ground Shizu looked to see that the red bandana man and noble man were already gone as they had run off.

"Lady Shizu, we need to run!" Yelled Touma.

Confused by why Touma was so concerned rather than angry at what the two men were talking about, she asked him in a much calmer tone that contrasted with the scowl on her face.

"What's wrong?"

"The bag that the man threw is dangerous. We need to get out of her before it too.... late!"

Touma's voice raised in fear as he began to hear a loud and noisy rustling from the direction of the mountain's path. The rocks on the path were shaking and the snow began to fall off the nearby trees.

Shizu turned in the direction of the noise and readied her katana, but to her horror she saw a swarm of Kengiri and gengiri rushing out from the nearby bush.

The content on the ground was known as curse bait, a potent magical item that had the undesirable ability to attract monsters and agitate them due to how if a monster ingested the bait, they would be kicked up into a frenzy.

"Touma! Send a Flare! Now!"

Touma complied and quickly casted a fire spell that launched itself high into the air.

Before the two started to run in retreat, Shizu reached down to rip the cloth from the sleeve of the noble man's severed arm. It would make for good evidence as the noticeable design and markings were clues to the true villain of this plot.

This got the Kengiri's attention as the arm was next to the curse bait. Some of the smell got onto Shizu which unwittingly attracted the monster to her.