JR 5.2

Hey Guys! Heres the next hit of Journey! I hope everyone is enjoying the side story, I mainly started it so that the original wasn't overloaded with POVs. 

Puppet POV~~~~~~

We ran back to the camp, and I swore we left after images, but the speed required for that was ridiculous. I watched as the entire group released everything they had on the leader. Natsuko shot him point blank in the head, but the bullet actually bounced off. Damn! He had a thick skull. It seemed it irritated him though as he turned his head towards her and gathered his hell flame. 

Azra jumped in front of his mouth just as the flame released from him, her shield leading. A shimmer covered the surface, then the darkness was pulled out of the flames as if the shield was devouring whatever was in it. Azra had to handle the flames herself though. As the flames let up, I noticed that she had some type of metal coating her other than her armor. We reached the others and braced ourselves for the coming combat. 

“Ah, little chew toy. I wondered where you ran off to,” the leader said as he turned towards me. 

“Just had to handle some of your friends over there,” I retorted as I pointed towards the pile of dead wolves that Z2 and I made, a moment later the pile exploded like the other wolves had been doing. 

The wolf snorted in contempt, “those mutts are nothing to me.”

I sensed him start to channel mana as it came off in waves of heat. Blades made of flame came out all over his body. They were flames, but they seemed to have a solid form, as he shook his body a nearby tree was cut with the flame blade and was sliced like butter. 

“Filthy mutt, just die!” Natsuko shouted and shot it’s head again. This time the bullet melted before it could even reach him. 

Azra jumped in between us and seemed to be able to channel the heat away from us at least a bit. The leader roared in a howl and looked at us as if trying to decide which one of us to eat first. I sent several blades of light at him, but the mana he was putting off caused them to dissipate before they reached him. 

He set his eyes on Azra as he said, “You look tasty, you first!” He rushed forward and opened his mouth wider than I thought it was possible for a creature to do. Azra channeled her mana, and her shield grew nearly a meter larger as spike shot into the ground and the top of the wolf’s mouth. He roared but didn’t seem to bothered by it. 

“Fuck this!” Natsuko said and placed her hand on her weapon. It started to glow as it changed shape a bit. The barrel got longer, and the end seemed to enlarge. The body also got slightly larger. A bullet formed in her hand that was quite a bit larger than the one she was using in her rifle before. She pulled the bolt and loaded the bullet into the rifle, “Form two: Anti-tank mode.”

“That’s quite a bit of mana coming from that weapon, meat,” the wolf said as he spun around and knocked Azra away with his body. One of the blades of flame sliced into her leg but she seemed alright. He started to rush towards her, but Natsuko pulled her trigger first. 

The heat managed to alter the path of the bullet but it still impacted in its upper shoulder. Flesh and blood went flying, and he roared loud enough to shake the nearby forest. The trees in the path of his roar actually ignited. The damage left his front limb barely hanging by a few pieces of muscle and part of the bone. 

“Hit him again!” I shouted at her. The wolf turned a glare that could have came straight from hell towards Natsuko. I tried to think of a way to stop him from moving, but nothing I thought of would be effective against him. He started to channel his hell flame and with a burst sent it towards Natsuko. 

Natsuo actually managed to protect her. A dozen plates of some type of metal shot forward and collided with the flame at an angle causing it to be redirected into the forest. I was more amazed that the plates didn’t melt from the heat. I could sense some type of energy that coated the plates and helped to control the energy from the flame.

Z2 with her ice wings suddenly flew from the sky and buried her sword to the hilt in the center of the wolf’s back. She struck the leader with enough force that the impact broke the ground beneath them and collapsed a few centimeters.  I hadn’t even noticed when she took off, her speed was reaching another level. Steam blasted from where the sword was embedded in his back. 

With another roar the wolf collapsed onto the ground and breathed heavily, it sounded like Z2 had managed to puncture one of his lungs. As he laid there, he struggled to get back up but seemed all the strength had left him. 

Steam started to pour out of him as if all the energy inside of him was trying to escape, “Well… done… little girl,” the wolf said in pained breathes. 

Natsuko looked at him, she was breathing hard as well. We didn’t need to, but it helped us regain mana we had used, “You as well, mutt.”

“Finish me off, I would rather die in battle then by the curse of this fucking collar!” He growled, his anger causing the air to tremble a bit. 

I approached him, and as I got closer, the collar indeed started to cause green sparks. Most likely he had been given the order to attack us or die trying. I had studied the collars that Father used to capture those two necromancers. I didn’t quite understand them enough to make them, but I should be able to mess with them, so maybe I would be able to at least get it off. 

I concentrated as I set my hand on the gem in the center. I studied the spellwork as my mind traveled the inner workings of the collar. This was complicated, it was nearly on level with Father but was much cruder than his. It took everything I had learned from building my drones and that I had studied, but I was able to affect it a bit. The best I would be able to do would be to change the ‘owner’ of the collar. 

I thought about and set the collar so that Natsuko would be the owner, as it seemed like they got along. I made sure to erase all the commands that had been given from the previous master and add a simple do not attack us command. 

“How do you feel now?” I asked after I pulled myself back from the inner workings. 

“Better! My mind is so clear!” He howled into the air, “I’m free!”

“Not so much free… more like under a new owner.”

“Oh! Who is my new owner, is it you chew toy?” 

“No, I have enough to deal with. I left you to Natsuko,” I said as I rubbed my neck.

“HUH!?” Natsuko shouted in surprise. 

“Pet,” Natsuo said as he looked the wolf over. 

“Ok Natsuo~~~,” Natsuko said while entirely dropping the issue. 

“What’s your name anyways?” I asked the wolf that had shrank down nearly two meters in the time we had talked, I noticed that his wounds had also sealed considerable as well. 

“Name? I’m the Great Cadum, Ruler of the West Forest!” He howled. He stood up and shook his mane. He walked over to Natsuko, which, even shrunk down he was still almost a meter or two taller, and sniffed her once or twice, “Hmm, you smell weird but not bad. Those necromancers smelt horrible.”

“Sit!” Natsuko said with steel in her voice. Cadum sat with a small boom, “it's rude to sniff people without permission!” Natsuko said as she put her finger in Cadum’s face. 

“Little girl!” Cadum said with a struggle then seemed to give up, “I… understand.”

“Very good,” Natsuko said and started to pet him. 

“What are you doing to my glorious self?!” Cadum demanded. 

“Huh? Never been petted before?” Natsuko asked as she stopped.

“WHO SAID YOU COULD STOP!?” Cadum howled loudly, causing the heat in the air to raise a bit. 

Natsuko looked at him shocked for a moment, then burst out laughing. It was the first time I had really heard her laugh so loudly. She went back to petting him as we took stock of the damage the battle had caused. Thankfully it was light, but I would have to be better prepared for the next time. I should have known better than to think that the enemy would only attack from the front. 

We set the automata back to charging, most had lost a bit maintaining the barriers on their shields. It would only take an hour or so for them to be fully charged. The big issue was the injury that Azra suffered. Natsuo moved over to her then pressed his hand against her leg. It looked like he was able to help flesh and blood ones as well, that was good news for if we ever had to bring mortals into our party for some reason. 

When dawn came, we set off. I made sure to keep a better vigilance then before with several smaller drones circling the convoy at all times. I also tinkered with some parts as I tried to make a land-based drone that resembled a spider. They had an excellent 3D movement which was helpful when in a forest. I added some explosive powder in the very center, that way if something went to crush them, they would get a nasty surprise. 

I toyed with several different types of weapons to equip the spiders with but went with venom after all. Only, I gave them launchable needles from their fangs so if they were able to get a good shot they wouldn’t be constricted by having to get close to the target. They were tiny at roughly 30 or so centimeters, and I had added active camouflage to them. They would be quite deadly to the unaware. 

I wanted to test their speed, so I activated one and tossed it on a nearby tree that we had just passed. It sprung to life, and the needle-like legs dug into the tree to find purchase. I set it to follow us, and it kept up easily. I grinned at the thought of the chaos these little things would cause in the future.