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[color=0072bc]"Oh, you speak English then?"[/color] Klara remarked with some surprise, casually tossing an Ice Blast over her shoulder to take out a loudly charging Oni. [color=0072bc]"Apologies, I expected most here to be speaking the local tongue, you know."[/color]

Not even pausing to introduce herself (she could always say hello later, the ice giantess reasoned), Klara darted around with the help of her Subzero Slide, taking out what Oni's she could and giving the other struggling nomads assistance with their own battles. Hearing some of the nomads talking of rallying and choke-points, Klara decided she needed to step in to control the situation and do some rallying herself; an activity she would be eager to perform if she had ever done something like it before, which of course she had not.

[color=0072bc]"Okay okay, listen to me, everyone!"[/color] Klara called out to anyone within earshot, sliding to a halt on an icy platform. [color=0072bc]"I am...uh...Klara! Klara Grimmolfdottir! And I am here to help!"[/color] This did not seem to garner much of a reaction though; whether it was because the nomads didn't care or if they were too busy fighting off the Oni statues, she didn't know. Still, she pressed on.

[color=0072bc]"These are no mere Oni statues!"[/color] she informed the group. [color=0072bc]"These are statues possessed by the souls and disembodied ki of dead Oni warriors. We are not sure who or what is responsible, but we do know that these souls can keep possessing new stone bodies and coming back indefinitely until the culprit behind this resurrection is put down!"[/color] This got the Nomad's attention as Klara developed ice blades on her arms to fight off some Oni who also took notice, decapitating their stony bodies and leaving them to crumble to the ground before shooting them at another pair of approaching orcs.

"Help is on the way, but we need to hold firm and defend!" Klara encouraged them. [color=0072bc]"As long as we are still fighting, the Oni will come for us and not the civilians! We stand our ground, and maybe whoever is behind this will show their face!"[/color]

[hr]

"A [i]Hokuō[/i] ice giantess?" the Master scoffed.

"It must be, my lord," the servant said gregariously. "What other creature but our kin in mythic blood could produce magic like that?" The Master scowled viciously at her use of the word kin, prompting the servant to recoil once again out of fear of being struck.

"Kin, and yet she stands with these murderers," the Master continued. "It seems, then, she will share in their fate." The servant, now out of sight of her Master's gaze, smiled slightly.

"My lord, it is not merely that she is an ice giantess," she said eagerly. "But if she is so far from home...then she must be with the Sanctum."

"What?" the Master barked, turning sharply to look her dead in the eyes. "Are you sure of this?!?"

"The ice giants of the North are solitary creatures," the servant mused. "I see no reason why an independent ice giantess would go so far out of her way to look for a fight. Unless she was acting on orders."

"Yes...I see," the Master said, cool fury in every monosyllabic tone of his voice.

"They did not help you when the children of Jimmu first slaughtered your kin, did they, my lord?" the servant said encouragingly, no longer shying away from her overlord's presence.

"No...they did not." The Master's fist clenched tightly around the gauntlet it wore.

"And now one of their number returns to save the children from your retribution," the servant continued. "It seems the Sanctum must be taught a lesson as well, my lord..."

"Yes...you are right! They most both be punished!" the Master declared, towering anger warring with triumph in his every word.

"Their fates are yours to decide my lord!" the servant cried out. "Go...show the children and their protectors the face of their doom!  Inflict on them a thousand years of retribution for what they have done!"

And the Master was gone, flying towards the Arena at high speed, ready to slaughter those who had once wronged him. His servant, a venomous smile crossing her face, quietly traipsed after him, her footsteps becoming less and less distinct in the driving rain until she and the sound of her footsteps vanished into the mist...