Chapter 43

The next day, Vain left early in the morning flying through the skies inside Zec and following the three men. He was starting to get impatient at how so they were walking, so he had Zec scout ahead with the radar and found several people, mechs, and boats up ahead on the shore. So Vain had Zec increase his speed and flew off in that direction. When they arrive, people immediately started shooting at them and Vain said, "Void doesn't want us to use magic because he doesn't want to expose a non-magic world to it. But if there's no one alive then no one knows I used it." But before Vain could, Zec said, "Master, you do know Void is watching us. He can always use his observation magic because no one would realize he's using it. So he's not exposing magic to this world." Vain then said, "Tch, fine. Guess we'll do it the hard way." Zec then released two swords from his wings and landed on the ground, deflecting bullets. His last four swords flipped over his shoulders pointing at their enemies and started firing lasers at them. Devastating them from a far, before Vain took hold of the controls and rushed Zec into the enemies.

Back at the town, Void and Luxia were walking away from the house they stayed at, which was at the edge of town, and going further in the village to talk to the mayor. While Lumia helped Redigur with his job, Veto slept on top of the house, and Luvia was watching over the kids with Florona. Soon they wanted to go into the forest to play in the snow, so Florona's children put on some extra warm clothes, while they were getting ready Luvia gave Nezerand a bracelet which will allow him to hide his horns, and they all left. Florona wondered if Nezerand, Ruby, and Flayna were cold but Luvia said, "Oh you don't have to worry about them. Their clothes are a little... special, I guess. Since they're not shivering or showing any signs they're cold, right?" Florona looked at them and nodded her head saying, "Yeah you're right." So they continue to watch the children play and sometimes joining in as well. But soon one child split from the group and went adventuring on his own. Soon a normal lone white wolf found the kid and dived at him. He moved out of the way and managed to avoid the teeth but not the claws, getting a cut on his arm. Tears started to form in his eyes, but he didn't want to cry or call for help. Soon the wolf turned around and lunged at him again. The little orange fur wolf boy closed his eyes out of fear and Luvia quickly got between them. Before removing her protective enchants, so as to not damage the wolf's teeth and jaw, and letting it bite onto her left arm. Luvia winces at the pain but bears with it, as blood oozes out. Luvia then got on her knees so the wolf could stand on the ground and started to pet its head while saying, "You must be hungry. I have some food that you can eat." She then brought her right hand into her coat, took out some meat from her magic storage, and showed it to the wolf. The wolf then lets go of her left arm, took the meat, and ran away.

Luvia then turned around, reached her hand out, and the boy closed his eyes again thinking he'll get hit. But Luvia patted his head and said, "There, there, everything is okay. You're safe now." He then opened his eyes and saw Luvia smiling at him as he starts crying. Luvia then picked him up in her arms and stroking his head more and saying, "That was pretty scary, wasn't it? But you're all safe now. Nothing will hurt you." Once he had calmed down Luvia said, "I know it's fun and exciting to freely explore, but the world is a dangerous place. So when you want to explore again, how about you talk to me and we can go look together? Of course, we have to tell your mother first. It would be wrong to make her worry." The boy nodded his head and Luvia started to make her way back with him still in her arms. But then a mech suddenly approached them from behind and pointed his gun at Luvia while saying, "Let go of the kid." Luvia then saw the cut on the boy's arm and knew he was misunderstanding the situation. So she said, "Wait, you're misunderstanding." He then pointed the big gun closer and said, "I won't repeat myself again. Let the kid go and maybe I won't kill you." Luvia knew he wasn't going to shoot as long as she holds the boy, but she didn't want to use him as a shield. So she put him down and said, "Go and hide behind the tree. It might get a bit dangerous." He was reluctant to leave as he looks at the gun and back at Luvia but when he saw her smile, he listened to her and hid behind the tree.

The mech then grabbed Luvia with its free arm and squeezed her, making her winced in pain. The man piloting the mech then said, "So what did you do to the boy?" Luvia replied, "I... I didn't do anything and... can you loosen the grip... a bit, please? It's a little hard... to breathe." He then squeezed her tighter, making her cry out in pain, and said, "Maybe I will if you answer my question honestly." The boy was going to come out from behind the tree, but Luvia looked at him, shook her head, and whispered to him, "Stay there... I'm fine... don't worry about me..." She smiled at him and turned her head back looking at the mech's face and said, "I am telling... the truth... I didn't hurt him." He then squeezed her more and said, "You're lying. You have bite marks on your hand, the boy was hurt as well, and his face is cover in tears. So that means you must have been trying to hurt him or something. I'm also running out of patience, so tell me what you were really up to. If you tell me another lie then I can't guarantee you'll go home alive." Luvia knew that he wasn't going to listen to her and said, "You wouldn't believe me... even if I told you. So if you want to kill me then... just kill me, but at least not in front of him. I wouldn't want... him to cry again." She turned her head, smiled at the boy, and whispered, "I'm sorry, I can't keep... the promise."

The man then said, "Fine." He turned his mech around so the boy could only see the back of the mech. As he starts to crush Luvia in its hand, Luvia fights back screaming out in pain so as to not make the boy worry, but before she could get completely crushed a giant laser sliced through its arm. The hand fell to the ground and Luvia laid in the snow, motionless. The boy ran passed the mech and over to Luvia, as the mech's attention was drawn towards the direction the shot came from. The mech then saw a man with white clothes and a scarf standing in a tree. Veto was holding a railgun in his hands and said, "I wouldn't do that if I were you. You'll make a lot of very powerful people angry if you did, myself included." Veto then saw more mechs coming up from his left and said, "Looks like your friends are here. Hopefully, they're more reasonable and sociable." The man saw Veto looking away and rushed at him, but Veto shot the mech's feet with the railgun and he fell down. The other mechs saw that and completely surrounded Veto with their guns pointed at him. Veto looked around the group and notice they were all white mechs so that they could camouflage in the snow. Their leader then opened up his mech's chest plate and Veto was able to have a good look at him. He had wolf ears and tail with black fur and was wearing an ordinary military uniform.

He then said, "We'll show you no mercy for attacking our friend." Veto then laughed and said, "Are all of you guys idiot or do you like being ignorant?" He was confused and Veto pointed down and said, "Look." Florona was kneeling down and had Luvia's head on her lap. While Florona's children and Ruby and Flayna were shaking Luvia's body trying to wake her up. The boy walked up to the mech on the ground and started punching and kicking it while crying and saying, "Why? Why did you do that? She was telling the truth. She wasn't doing anything wrong. You jerks, meanies, bad guys." Veto then strapped his railgun to his back and said, "So tell me, am I the bad guy or are you guys?" They all silently put away their guns, lifting their fallen friend up, as they all left their mechs, and stood silently in front of Luvia and everybody else. They all bowed their heads and apologize, while Veto held the boy back as he continues to wail his arms and feet. Veto then said, "I know the military and police are there to keep people safe, but if they are not level headed than they do nothing but hurt people. Keep doing that and eventually, you'll incite their rage and the very people you wanted to protect will be the ones to end you."

Soon Nezerand was able to calm Ruby, Flayna, and the other kids down. Nezerand had them step back for a bit, so the adults can get to work. The leader of the men saw that she was still breathing, but she had several broken bones, her ribs were touching her lungs, and there were bite marks on her arm. The boy then explains to them what happened, how he got hurt, why he was crying, and how she got hurt. So their leader said, "I'm sorry for my subordinate's action. I swear by my name, Leonhart Razofangs, I'll make sure she gets to a hospital and receives intensive care." Veto then saw Zec coming towards them and said, "Well I have no say in that. Why don't you ask her husband? He's right over there." They all look were Veto was pointing and saw a blue and white mech flying towards them. Zec brought up a screen showing Vain what was going on and he got mad. Zec landed down, opening his chest, and letting Vain get out. He ran over to Luvia and asked what happen and Veto explain the whole story to him. After Veto's explanation, the look on Vain's face made it obvious he was furious.

They apologize over and over, but that didn't calm him down. He was about to punch them when Luvia woke up and held Vain's hand. She then said, "Don't darling... I forgive them. So... please forgive them... as well. Please..." Vain then said, "Tch, fine. Hey stupid idiots, where's the nearest hospital?" Leonhart gave him directions, so Vain climbed back into Zec, Zec then lifted Luvia up gently off the snow, and Vain said, "Hey Veto! Get off your lazy a*s for once and watch the kids. Anything happens to them and I'll cut you in two." Zec then lifted off the ground slowly and shielded Luvia with his other hands, as they took off. Leonhart had a couple of his men follow Vain so they could help him if he needed it. But since their mechs couldn't fly, they just power slide across the snow after him. Everybody else went back to town and Veto played video games with the kids, after wrapping some bandages on the boy. While Leonhart went to go talk with the mayor with his men following him. When they knock on the door, Void's voice said, "Come in," and that made them quickly enter the house with their guns drawn. Void then said, "Well it seems you have visitors mayor. I'll take my leave here and thank you for the hospitality." Void and Luxia both got out of their seat and left. Leonhart was confused and asked the mayor, "So who were those two?" The mayor, with white cat ears and tail, replied, "They were travelers. It seems that he and his friends were just passing by and they wanted so information. They wanted to learn a little about the region and it seems one of his friends dealt with the attackers. So we should be safe now. I'm grateful you came to our aid, but it seems I must have only wasted your time." Leonhart shook his head and said, "You didn't waste our time. We're always happy that you're relying on us. Not to mention, you guys support us. So it's the least we can do to repay the favor."

While Void was walking, he was watching their conversation, smile, and said, "He's a good person. Though it seems we've gotten off to a bad start. Well fixing it shouldn't be too much trouble." Luxia then said, "So are you planning to end this war and fix the relations between the beastmen and humans?" Void replied, "That's the plan, for now. Though it only works if the leaders of each are willing to listen to me. If not then we'll go to plan b." Luxia nodded her head and said, "I see." Void then said, "Well, guess I'll have to contact Vain and have him send someone to act as a vehicle. After all, we can't have people seeing us use magic when it's said to not exists." Luxia nodded her head again and replied, "I know, we'll all be careful." Void then said, "Good, it would be nice if we could blend in and not stick out. Who knows how this world and its people will react."