8 FOR NON-HUMANS EVERYWHERE

Hina woke to the sound of knocking at the door, and looked down at herself. She was naked, as were the others, and so she sprang out of bed and hurriedly threw her clothes back on before headed to the door and opening it. Outside stood a woman who looked to be panicked.

"Please!" She was practically beside herself with the look of panic on her face. "We're asking all Non-Humans to help; it's the Imperial Knights! They've started burning the outer edge of the town, and we need to push them back!"

"Damnit!" Hina swore in a way that was anything but feminine, grabbing her weapons and buckling them on. Now wasn't the time time for submissiveness or hanging out. "Emily, Aurelia, get the hell up, get dressed, get your weapons!" The girls, who were just waking up, looked confused, but they hurried to get clothed and prepared.

"I heard what was going on," Emily grumbled.

"I didn't, what...?" Aurelia seemed lost as she pulled her two toned hair back into a ponytail. Hina did a quick bun like Emily had showed her yesterday, not worrying about her amateur sloppiness, and Emily herself settled for the simple ponytail that Aurelia had.

"Imperial Knights attacking the village," Hina answered Aurelia in nothing short of a bark. "Let's go." Turning, she stepped into the hall and took off at a human-paced jog, speaking to the woman who'd knocked at their door. "Lead the way, and find safety when we're close enough to finish the trip ourselves."

"Y-Yes, miss!" The maid- that's who she was- reached behind her and pulled; her skirt fell away, revealing tiny shorts underneath. She took off her heels as well, then took off at a pace that seemed to be the fastest she could manage.

As the four passed through the empty eatery and into the town itself, Hina spoke to Aurelia. "You said your magic is all nature based, can you do anything with water?"

"I-I can! Not enough to stop the flames, but I could break it so it doesn't spread, maybe, and douse some buildings to make them harder to light!"

"Go, then, and watch our for archers!" Hina and Emily kept running after the maid, while Aurelia zipped away faster than Hina would think possible, turning into her tiny, seven centimetre form. Then, there were three.

That wasn't true, though, was it? There were many others; men and women, human or not, with weapons ready, more and more charging behind the maid.

"This is where I leave you, I have to get back to Lily! Go!" The aforementioned maid turned and bolted back the other way... and then, Hina was in the lead. She could feel it, the way eyes were turning to her... and she ran faster, pulling a bit ahead, muttering to herself.

"Hina... you've never killed a human, but you have to swear... you won't hesitate. Either way, people will die, and if you hesitate, it's much more likely to be the wrong crowd." Then they were in the thick of a crowd of knights... and somebody rammed their fist into Hina, doubling her over. A second later and they kicked her, sending the badger girl staggering back and falling on her ass.

"Ha!" A knight smirked behind his raised visor, approaching Hina. "A fucking beast would challenge the Imperial Knights? Are you crazy, stupid, or suicidal?" He didn't attack Hina, and nor did anyone else; she was expected to answer. Around her, more and more fights were erupting, with neither side immediately gaining the upper hand. This knight... he had experience on Hina, so she'd have to be smarter, faster than the armored brute. Where was Em- no, there was no need for a savior right now.

Standing, Hina lashed out; the knight easily blocked her blow, and Hina ducked, kicking as ferociously as she could. Armor crunched, and the knight screamed, leg and armor both at a very awkward angle as she pierced his helmet with one of her knives. It took force to pull it back out, but in the end, the armored body fell to the ground.

"You bitch! Killing those who would be your own men!" Hina turned; she was in a clearing of sorts, a roughly ring shaped space without any fighting... and she was there with Yukino, who now possessed two arms.

"They would never be my own men," Hina said softly, walking forward. "One just thought to kill me, and more, all around, slaughte-" Hina stopped herself as she heard a scream.

"She's only twelve, you can't!! HELP!!!" Without a second thought, Hina summoned all her might and leapt out of the empty space, toward the noise... there was the maid from before, guarding the girl- the one from the inn, behind the counter- with her body. With a snarling laugh, the two knights shoved her aside, and one scooped the girl up.

"Aye, she'll fetch a nice price," spoke the man holding her. "She's a bit young, sure, but plenty of people are into tha-"

"You damned PERVERT!" Hina rammed her knife through the side of his neck and pulled, halfway beheading the knight, who then dropped the girl. Lily, was it?

"You little bi-" The other knight gagged as Hina pierced his throat, then twisted her knife, slowly carving out a hole in his throat.

"Get home, Lily! GO!" Hina twisted to the side as a knight swung at her, but she was too slow, and found herself crashing through a window, into somebody's home. There was the smell of smoke all around her, and laughter outside... Hina swung herself to her feet and flew right back out the window with a flying kick, sending the knight flying.

"You're not bad, for a girl!" To her left, a man with gray skin and black hair waved. Around his arms swirled Mana the color of blood, and he began to hurl spears of ice at the knights, moving away from Hina. Somehow managing to smile at his humor, Hina threw herself toward a knight after glancing to the side and making sure that Lily was running safely away from the crowd. Hina couldn't see any flames, anymore, had Aurelia somehow...?

"Human Weapon!" Something blunt and hard rammed her in the ribs, and Hina gagged, flying off course and rolling across the dirt again. When she tried to stand, her head spun, and she fell to one knee.

"Pathetic!" It was Yukino, again, and he laughed as what felt like a human hand punched her in the face. Hot blood poured from her nose, spilling into her mouth, and she snarled, forcing herself up, backing away.

"Heroes are supposed to be... Heroes!" Yukino screamed with unfounded anger, leveling an actual sword, not his arm, at her. "How could you go around murdering humans like this?! Where is your pride!"

"Fuck you..." Hina growled, picking up the knives she'd dropped and keeping her eyes on him all the while. Around her, the battle raged on... but there were less knights, now. "Your knights are burning, raping, they tried to kidnap a damn twelve year old! Nobody fights harder than one wrongly accused... and this village has done nothing to you!" She readied the knives, staring Yukino down. "Now, do you want to finish this, or not? Heroes are supposed to help, and if it's you, then it's time for this Kingdom to lose one more." Her voice dripped with venom, and this was nothing to do with her identity or his.

"Fuck you!" Yukino ran forward, swinging his blade... and Hina remembered how the spiders had raised their legs to strike... neatly side stepping, she lifted and rammed her blade through the side of Yukino's head, in one ear and out the other. He froze, immediately, and sagged, his body falling off of the blade and onto the ground.

"Heal that, piece of shit," Hina scowled and kicked his face with the toe of her boot. With training, perhaps every hero could become something fantastic, phenomenal, powerful... but Yukino was just a kid who'd gotten too big for britches. That aside, he was still a young adult, and Hina had no problem taking a piece of trash like him out of the picture. Her ribs ached from his blow, but the memory of him would, hopefully, die before long.

"Good job," whispered a voice behind Hina, and she turned, confusion written across her face. It was... a girl, with shoulder length brown hair and eyes that glowed; amber and gold, orange and red all swimming and pulsing.

"Who...?"

"There were two other Non-Human heroes, long story short. I'm one of them... now, we can introduce ourselves later, let's go! Together, come on, two heroes!"

Hina was confused, but she returned to the fray. The knights were good... but they were outnumbered. Everyone had each other's backs, and in the end, not a single villager died. The mysterious girl got split from Hina early on, and Emily found her again soon after that, and then Aurelia regrouped.

"I stopped the fire with the help of three mage adventurers!"

"Good! Go and support from the air, we've taken care of the archers!"

"You got it!"

"Emily, play support for me! You, mages, cast barriers for the front liners!"

"Aye aye, Hero!"

"Ha, how do you know about that?!"

The battle raged, and in the end, the knights lay nothing more than crumpled husks on the ground. Cheers rang out, and, all in good spirits, an impromptu festival began in the streets while the townsfolk of Lop took turns disposing of bodies and salvaging armor, weapons. At first, the atmosphere was serious...

"To think that a Hero wandered into our town...! Well, it isn't like the Imperials didn't already hate us... we'll have to leave here, of course, but it isn't as though we can't start fresh. We don't have any who are too old to survive the trip by carriage or walking, and we have supplies, as well as allies over the Mirian border..."

"Aye, this is a day that nobody will soon forget! The day we showed those Imperial bastards what they deserve!"

"Aha, and we all needed one another. Just a few less people might have made all the difference..."

"But you fought wonderfully, Hina, even took down their racist hero!"

"H-HEY! We are in PUBLIC!!!"

"Who cares!? Right here, Hina!"

Things didn't stay serious for long.

(Do we have any artists reading this? If we do, and you'd be willing to help me with the cover of a new story, please email me (karasutachibana0525@gmail.com) or find me on Instagram @Aine_Artistic ?)