Maid with Necromancy

“The pets were going missing, and their owners went insane about it.” Loap continued.

“That actually doesn’t seem complicated at all,”  Harmony said with a touch of annoyance tinged by pain. She flexed her hurt hand, hoping it would feel better. Complicated wasn’t what they needed right now anyway. [Renew Spirit] barely touched the internal wound caused by the ripped out fate.

“If you’d hopping been here, you would have seen how it was. Benny’s Ooze, Pina went missing. It took three of us to calm him down. But he only played the part and dashed into the dark once we let him go.”  

That almost aligned with the false reports.

“But what happened to everyone else?” Owlsley asked from her position of hugging her dozing giant sloth. “And how did Socks get these wounds?”

“Socks was protecting us,” Pappi informed her. “When Horatio disappeared, too, Jenny became incensed. If we weren’t hearing you, then you were dead. At that same time, I finally got a signal from two Milos before it cut out again. A verbal argument ensued, where Jenny wanted to soul smith a bit of everyone into a piece of metal as a way of refining the pure essence of everyone. When Malick refused for religious reasons, Jenny went out to get what she needed from the shelters.”

“But why was he protecting you?” Owlsley pressed.

“Like I said, it is complicated,” Loap interjected. “Jenny started torching shelters, and Barington took it personally. Things blew up, and the fight spread. We preached peace, but then we got blamed and…”

“What happened to the stew bowl?” Kenny asked, staring at the now cold mess

That was probably the least important question here. A comprehensive telling of this story could be done later.  There was still  someone’s double out there. Kenny’s question was pervasive of the atmosphere as they were all unfocused from the scene they entered and the answers being told.

“Grrupt?” Hyacinth asked if she’d chill a little.

Everyone was too at ease. “Do you know where the imposter is?” Harmony asked with the bite authority.

“Nothing definitive. It’s probably still out there. None of us is the imposter. We stayed by the fire the whole time.”

That was a relief, but not enough. “Are the other competitors alive, dead, or out of the competition?" Harmony pressed with more authority.

With an aristocratic huff. Loap deflected that. A reminder that she was also a lady, what her people called a Shin-ee.

Using authority against Tyler’s pet was a touch rude, but the important questions needed to be answered first. Loaps' normally bubbly demeanor had a bit of steel to it this time. Okay, maybe diplomacy first.

“I'm sorry Shin-ee Loap. We had our own complications and wished to end the threat as soon as possible.”

Loap let out a sigh. “Like I’m trying to explain, it got twisted up worse than a burr in my fur.  We had to kill Jenny. Her body disappeared, so we’re fairly sure she was not the mimic. It’s been quiet since. I think two broke their seals based on the combat in the distance, but outside of the smith, we can’t confirm who is still out there.”

Hyacinth looked away guiltily. Self-defense was obvious, Jenny, though? Jenny had been more than useful; she’d been friendly and one of the least antagonistic competitors. Obsessed with how the games made their metal so durable after Night managed to leech some of the protections from the metal and make it workable.

“Jenny? Why would she attack you?” Harmony asked.

Pappi, “Madness.” The old spirit grunted.

“She was convinced one of us was responsible for Horatio’s disappearance, and was willing to burn all of us to take care of the problem.”  Loap finished.

Jenny wasn’t stupid. It was most likely a competitor who was the imposter, but everyone should be tested.  “Good thing I’ve brought us a way to test that theory out. Come on, fatty, you’re first.”

Hyacinth hopped over a little reluctantly. He’d also suffer from immunity to [Shadowed Graves] The soul damage still screaming along her right arm begged not to be used again. She had two hands, and would just have to use her other one and hope the exploding issue was restricted to her.

“No. No. No. No! No!”  Owlsley cried as she stumbled back away from her pet, interrupting the cut. “Socks. It made Socks a puppet!”

Before Owlsley finished her warning,  the blades were out.  If the prismatic enforcer declared Socks the imposter, they were going to trust her. Sad as it was, they knew they were walking into a tricky situation  that needed to be resolved quickly.

“Wait!” Loap cried, stepping in front of Tyler’s maul, causing him to stop.

Pappi floated in front of Milo’s blade for a similar reaction.

When Hyacinth hopped in front of Harmony's  [High Kick] propelled swing of her sickle. Chronostasis kicked in, and she nearly broke her seals then and there.

Hyacinth wouldn't stop her. When he toad-kicked her in that stupid suicidal attack, there had been no hesitation. No asking her to stop and wait like she felt now through [Familiar Bond]. This thing would be no barrier. Rage tinted her actions, first Max and now this. Her partner better not be dead!

Harmony stretched her seals as she forced what she wanted out in the world. The request asking if she wanted to break the seals flickered in her vision, only to be dismissed as quickly, connections moved to strengthen and make flexible the restrictions placed upon her. Too much left to do. [Shadowed Graves] spread out with [Recall] feeding into it, not to bring out any targets‘ deepest fear, or flicker through an option. No, they would see her rage, and the fear they would meet would be that of her.

That was only the beginning of what she unleashed. That poor, dead mimic copy had shown her one option of what a constructed domain might look like. It was based on theories and ideas that were hers, and since then she’d had weeks to think and plot. So she acted with her experience dealing with Eric’s domain and a rage that stripped away hesitation. When the darkness of [Shadowed Graves] spread above and below, it made space hers and cut off light, and the heat from that light. This time, it brought the frost of death [Cold Touch] infused with [Disintegrate] to eat what was in her path into [Dust] so fine it would flow like water.

Death and destruction flowed out as she continued her strike towards the thing that claimed to be Hyacinth. Internally, she wasn’t done. Here was her first skill, her most developed and closest connection. [Familiar Bond] to never be alone. To always have a partner. You picked the wrong skill to play pretend with. Harmony’s body continued forward automatically, but her mind was occupied with her target. The internal space had held plenty of danger, like when Sir Maxwell altered his oath to her, or when she bonded the poor dead prince, and she’d advanced herself when she’d helped shackle Saccerate, channeled Eric’s chaos away, and fought off a mimic trapped skill. It was a battlefield where she’d suffered and learned, and in this skirmish, it was time to make someone else suffer as she reached into that connection that should only be shared with her guide.

The target screamed a high-pitched squeal. He wasn’t the only one. Those claiming to be Loap, Pappi, and Socks all opened their mouths simultaneously to create a choir of suffering under that attack. Each of their forms warped to flee from the adopted shapes that allowed this to happen.  They weren’t each separate mimics; they were one, fingers controlling what Owlsley had dubbed puppets.

Below them, the ground shifted, bucked, and waved even as it bled, as they were lifted in the air by the rising mimic underneath as Harmony’s sickle cut into her screaming false familiar.

Beside her, Tyler smashed his maul into the screaming Loap. Milo’s hand turned translucent into an astral form he used to rend Pappi with a gleeful look on his face, like he was imagining taking something out on the bond he feared would overtake him.

Owlsley, having recovered, was glowing; a prismatic armor stronger than Harmony had seen before was snapping into place. She’d taken the bait and broken whatever seals she had. In one hundred seconds, they’d be down one more competitor, and more importantly, a compatriot for this battle.

Harmony couldn’t blame the woman; she’d come close to making the same choice. Only she had a duty that waited for her when the tribes merged. That weight tipped the balance toward staying.

Harmony finished the sickle’s descent, cutting into one small bit of a larger entity, and stripped away a lot of the satisfaction. It ended the false connection. And there in the distance, she could feel Hyacinth proud of what she accomplished.  Not dead. She would have let go of all of her tension then, except they still had to deal with the mountain of a mimic below them and the horrors it could produce.

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