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What….was happening? Whatever it was Neko wasn’t going to complain, as it seemed the two new girls had broken out into a ‘cat fight.’ A grin spread across his face as he watched though it did quickly turn to a more concerned look as they fell back into the water. Wondering for a moment if he was going to have to help he turned his gaze toward Yuki. Well, hell he wasn’t going to help. Yuki was as scared of water as a Chihuahua was scared of…well, everything.

Rolling his eyes, Neko made his way closer to the water’s edge and peered in to see if he could see the two and possible help. If need be he would at least jump in after Riyo if they didn’t surface soon.

Once satisfied that she had rid her clothes of enough water, Mitsu continued on her way, following the river as she walked through the forest. Every once in a while her gaze would turn back but the small group that she had traveled with for a short time was no longer visible. With a sigh she continued on, looking for food as she went. She stomach was growling from the lack of substance and she could feel herself growing weak again. It honestly didn’t take much with her metabolism running on high all the time.

As Poke kicked her, Riyo gasped. As you know, gasping whilst one is submerged usually isn't good for a land mammal. Which is probably why she had that shocked look on her face. Her eyes then turned a glowing red.

Without a second thought, she swam back just enough to return the kick before she attempted to resurface. Which ended up being a bust. The whole "getting in the last action" thing probably wasn't as great as an idea as she had wanted. Since she could've been using what little time she had to swim up and get air instead of kicking the girl back. Either way, her chances of not drowning were slimming as her body began to refuse working from the lack of oxygen.

Taking hold of Riyo once the other girl had started to hoist her over the water’s edge, Neko dragged her a few extra feet from the water just as a safety precaution. Checking her over himself, keeping a leery eye on the other girl, he could tell that she once again had fluid on her lungs but apparently was having difficulty getting rid of it this time around. When the other girl rolled Riyo onto her side he waited a few seconds to see if that would work, patting her back to see if the water would come up. That too seemed to prove futile so Neko quickly rolled Riyo back and pressed his lips to her forcing her nose closed with his hands. Forcing air into her mouth with his he drew back and went about placing his hands on her chest, one over the other, and pushing down in short somewhat hard thrusts to help the fluid come up. Rinse and repeat.

Further down the riverside the path in the forest was becoming a little easier to navigate so Mitsu had broken out into a run to save time only stopping long enough to search for bugs to eat. She had tried eating plants before but quickly learned she hadn’t known which ones to pick when she had gotten violently sick so now she avoided them at all costs. It would be a last resort if need be but she would take grubs over plant matter any day.

The time it took her to get within seeing distance of the village was cut in half. Stopping once she could see it she sniffed at the air cautiously looking to see what kind of people were moving inside the village. She was still a far ways off but the scents were coming to her clearly and it was mixed with so many different smells. Human, canine, feline, fish, then another scent caught her nose. Food. And lots of it! Caution cast to the wind, Mitsu made her way closer to the village to see why the smell of food was so great. Unknowing to her a town festival was going on and food carts along with game booths were set everywhere.

After about three tries from Neko, Riyo finally spat up all the water that had been in her lungs and coughed violently before opening her eyes. She blinked and looked around at all the people staring at her. "Nyuh." She mumbled, not quite wanting to get up yet.

(short. Crappy. But that's okay. People can continue.)

As Poke approached, Yuki stood. He'd been leaning to meet Hitsu's eye level, which was several inches lower than his own. Out of habit, especially considering the strange things that just seemed to continue popping up, he stepped in front of Hitsu to put himself between she and the new stranger. "We're fine." Yuki stated flatly, though of course this wasn't completely true. With her apology, Yuki only gave a slow nod of acknowledgment. What was he supposed to say? 'Oh, it's fine. Happens all the time.' No. Sure, Yuki was used to sparring, and even the occasional fight in the tavern at home, but so much had happened in less than twenty-four hours that he was just to the point of being disturbed by how violent all of these outsiders seemed to be. What the hell was with these people?

Hitsu peeked around her brother, rubbing one of her eyes free of lingering tears. Riyo was breathing now, and that was good. Looking to Poke next, she looked a little frightened. She seemed friendly now, but Hitsu's nervousness of what had just happened would take a little while to fade.

There was an awkward pause, in which Yuki only stared at Poke. Mulling over their current predicament, he decided he'd try his luck. "So... Whoever you are..." He began, trailing off slightly at the lack of a name. "Assuming that you live around here. Is there a city nearby?"

Hundreds of voices loosed a paralyzing scream inside of Kyo's mind, which caused him to stumble and clutch at the sides of his head. This was a familiar pain and also a comforting one. It meant he wasn't alone anymore. The many demon souls that possessed his body had formed a slightly unstable amalgamation of sorts that called itself The Many-as-One. Sometimes when it slept it lost cohesion, resulting in the previous display of someone having a five hour long migraine crammed into thirty seconds as 'The Many' tried to collect themselves together '-as-One'.

Kyo's near endless magicka stores were running low, making him use more and more of his slender body to bear the burden of his massive sword. Under normal circumstances, Kyo could focus raw magic energy to help hold his sword aloft, making it feel like it weighed about the same as a longsword. But now it was becoming a hindrance. For three days he had run without food, water or sleep. Now that he had paused because of Many-as-One's awakening he had the time to notice that every sinew and fiber of his being felt like they were trying to pull themselves apart.

"We really shouldn't be lingering... we are chased, remember?" Many-as-One said as it's voices began to come together into some semblance of understandable language.

"Tell me something I don't know, and there's a cookie in it for you." Kyo said with no lack of iciness.

The weight of his sword had been cumbersome since day two, but now he was almost at the point where it was dangerous. "Hmph, wouldn't that be an embarrassing obituary... 'man crushed to death by his own sword'. What do you think father would say?" Kyo mused.

"Stay focused Kyo," Many-as-One hissed, "our body can't take any more running. We have to make our stand."

"Still, no cookie for you. I just hope they are as weary as I am. Even if they aren't, at least it isn't raining. That's a bit of a boon." Kyo replied.

"Visions of the future mean nothing if you do everything you can to defy them, fool."

"You still haven't said anything cookie-worthy." Kyo said as he pondered how easy this position would be to defend.

The forest was dank with the stink of greenery, and it was filled with the rumble of insects that would set upon him should the fight not go his way. His hands reached for the hilt of his sword and grasped it as he changed his stance into one better suited for fighting. The sounds of clumsy footsteps got louder.

"You, sir, are an insufferable a**." Many-as-one chuckled.

"No," Kyo said through his teeth as he readied his thews for his surprise attack, "cookie."

The first cultist broke through the foliage, his mouth flecked with foam and his eyes rolling. The look of absolute confusion remained on his face even as Kyo focused magic energy on the underside of his blade, bringing it over his head and down in a magnificent arc that split the fiend in half. Two more entered the vicinity, though more cautiously, as two more followed behind with an average sized demon in restraints.

Kyo panted, unable to lift the sword for another strike. Instead, he stepped forward to move the sword into a vertical position. His intent was to dodge around it, using it as a bladed shield. The next cultist to die moved forward. Kyo leaned his blade slightly to parry the cultist's attack. Having done so, Kyo grabbed the back of his opponent's head and rammed his skull into his sword's bladed edge. Blood spewed onto Kyo's face as the dead man slid down the blade and landed with a thud. The next one moved in with his sword held high over his head. Leaving one hand on the handle of his sword, he thrust out his other hand and caught the attacker by the wrists and kept him from swinging downward.

The two stood there for a moment, both unable to attack. Kyo could not remove his other hand from his sword lest it fall to the ground, rendering it useless.

"It would seem we are at a dilemma." The cultist said from beneath his deep hood.

"Are we?" Kyo inquired knowingly as he leaned forward and closed his jaws on his opponent's throat, crushing his windpipe shut forever. Kyo watched as he fell to the ground, writhing as he slowly suffocated.

"You fight as tenaciously as the kobold in your namesake." The man who seemed to be the leader said, as he began circling around Kyo. "Such a shame you are fighting against our master. You act like a worm, writhing under the thumb of an infinitely more powerful being. You should realize by now that there is no escape. No amount of writhing will help you avoid the fate you have been dealt. Tell me, does being under the thumb of a god feel... crushing?" And then the Cultist leaned in, his grimy lips twisted into a distorted facsimile of a grin. And then he whispered something very quietly.

"What did you just call me?" Kyo howled in fury. In a flash, Kyo had let go his sword's handle, letting it fall to the ground and pulled out a knife usually reserved for gutting and skinning his game. With one motion he cut a gash in the cultist leader from groin to sternum, causing his insides to fall out of the incision. The leader fell to his knees in disbelief. Kyo kicked him squarely in the face, causing him to land sprawled out on his back. Kyo clutched a handful of the man's insides and sat on his chest, pinning the cultist's arms with his knees. Kyo then began to strangle the man with his own intestines while the last remaining cultist watched in horror, half-hiding behind his bound demon.

Having ended the man's life, Kyo stood from the corpse. He was panting much harder now, even as he wove the runes in his mind to cast one of his signature spells. He was hoping it would end the battle. The lone cultist began to laugh once the shock wore off. "You will have to deal with me now!" Glancing at the corpses, he made an amendment, "And by me, I mean my demon!" Having corrected himself, he muttered the password to release the demon from its bonds. Suddenly, the chains on the creature's wrists, as well as the cloth covering the demon's head, disintegrated. "Get him Baelor! Rend his flesh!" The cultist shrieked, provoking the beast into motion.

"Damn it." Kyo said without much conviction. He then raised his right arm and pointed the palm of his hand at the demon. He then covered his left eye with his left hand. The demon stopped advancing, and puffed out its chest with a grin on its face. The demon seemed to be able to detect what kind of energy Kyo was about to unleash, and looked like it was intent on absorbing it for its own. Evil can hardly be damaged by evil magic, after all. Kyo let loose with a grin of his own. Transposing his eye to the palm of his hand and back again was the most difficult part of this spell; the rest was just letting what magicka he had left out in an energy blast. Suddenly, he opened his left eye (which was then on the palm of his hand), and chanted the last rune: the name of the spell. "Evil eye." Kyo whispered. The spell complete, magicka blasted from the eye on his palm towards the expectant demon. The whole world went white to Kyo, as he had forgotten his own rule...never EVER look at the blast.

When his vision cleared the demon had a nice big hole in his torso. The cultist that was hiding behind the demon, however, was missing everything above his waist. The monster had a puzzled look on its face. Not one to leave anyone curious, Kyo muttered "Yeah, evil magicka is the majority of what's in that spell... but there's a bit of every other kind, too. It's called Chaos Magic, b***h." Kyo had just enough time to launch a decent loogie aimed at the demon's corpse before he began his descent to the ground. As Kyo lost consciousness from exhaustion, Many-as-One exited Kyo's body and went about the dirty business of capturing and assimilating the demon's soul.

"Heh...hah," Kyo said to the sky, to Many-as-One... to no one, "I win." And then he fell asleep.

Riyo's face took on a regretful look as Neko scoulded her. Her ears once again fell against the sides of her head as she stared back into his eyes. Quietly, she watched him climb up the bank and sat up, letting out a few more coughs before standing herself and climbing up the bank to meet the others. She remembered select parts of what had just happened, for example: lunging at the girl who she was fairly sure bit her... But as for what happened after that, she drew a blank. She seemed to be doing that quite often now. Just another thing she was gonna worry about. Either way, as she reached the others, she watched them speak to the same fishy smelling girl she had just attacked. It didn't matter. She'd gotten her back, and therefore held no grudge.

Her ears perked up at a very faint sound she had never heard before. It was like the call of birds because it had melody... But that sound didn't seem to come from an animal. "Nyuuuh?" She questioned to no one inparticular and looked across the river. Her head tilted to the side a little. What a peculiar noise.