Fiona was walking by herself through the black townscape.
She didn't have any particular destination or anything she wanted to see. She was just taking a walk because she had nothing better to do. There was no further meaning to her actions.
In the first place, happiness to Fiona was being by her master's side, so her first priority these days was to be useful to her, the master whom she was unable to serve for one thousand years. She wanted to do what she could for her and was willing to not spare any effort. Thus, she actually had no interest in exploring this place. In fact, she was considering just going to find her master now.
But I don't want to be a bother…
It was obvious to Fiona that Naru was interested in this town.
This country was founded by one of the 'heroes' who betrayed Naru, so Fiona had no interest in it. In fact, she would be more than happy to burn it all down right now. But her master wanted to explore it, so Fiona complied as she didn't want to interrupt her fun.
So, since that was the case, Fiona was currently out of things to do.
At the very least, she wouldn't interfere with her master's sightseeing. She would remove anything that could be an obstacle beforehand as well—specifically, any of the grimmfolk's Grimms of Destruction . They most likely had something in the works for this country. Rather, there was no way they didn't.
The only surviving members of the Seven Maidens of Midgar—Juvia, Hinata, and Ruby—were humanity's strongest champions. It was because they existed that the grimmfolk had yet to conquer the world. That was why Vernal, one of the Seven Grimms of Purgatory, attacked Svel as well as used Fiona. There was no way they would leave this country alone, either.
See? They really are here.
Fiona could sense someone tailing her.
Wait. Actually, did they purposefully let me sense them? Either way, it looks like they want to talk to me one-on-one. Then, it should be best to go along with that idea.
Fiona continued to walk, choosing a direction that led to somewhere empty. Eventually, Fiona arrived at a plaza with no one around.
Is this… a park?
Normally, there would probably have been children playing in this place, but right now, it was empty. It wasn't nighttime either, so there was no reason for it to be this empty.
Is it some sort of barrier that prevents people from interfering…?
This was the work of magic from one of the elements in this world: Moon. There was a moon elemental spell that prevented encounters.
This spell, which simply kept beings you didn't want to approach away, was a convenient spell treasured by adventurers. One thousand years ago, Naru had often complained about how much she wanted to be able to use it. Even though she herself could not use it, Naru had Twelve Zodiac's Guardians which made up for any shortcomings she had. Sagittarius, Virgo, and Capricorn guardians filled those roles, especially magic, which she was useless at.
'Sagittarius' was for attack magic.
'Virgo' was for support and healing magic.
And 'Capricorn' was specialized in interference and disturbance type magic.
"Show yourself, Tayuya. It's you, right?"
In response, a patch of empty space wavered. What appeared from the shimmer of air looked exactly like a demon.
The being had a pair of goat-horns and long red hair, a female human body with leathery bat wings and a reptilian tail—a grotesque monster. The demon's lower half fluctuated, as if it wasn't corporeal.
This was the Capricorn of the Twelve Zodiac's Guardians: Tayuya the Demon Queen.
The woman who looked exactly like a demon from legend stood across from Fiona, her red eyes glinting ominously.
***
Penny surveyed the white town while she flew through the air.
She was currently flying above the town at an altitude of 1500 meters. It was a height at which even flugel wouldn't approach without reason and one at which Penny would be almost completely safe from detection.
But even with so much distance between her and her target, Penny's eyes were still able to capture each individual flugel resident of the white town, down to every strand of hair.
Penny was checking each flugel resident of the white town, treating them as if they were enemies and confirming their strength.
They prided themselves on their white wings, and her master, with her taboo black wings, was ostracized from them as a monster. In other words, they were her master's enemies. And her master's enemies were her enemies.
Since Naru hadn't ordered an attack, Penny wouldn't do anything at the moment. But she was prepared to hit the entire town with Brachium the instant any of them took even the slightest hostile action. She would not have any mercy or compassion.
The first and foremost factor in all of her decision making was whether or not it would benefit her master, Luaru Fenris. If it was beneficial, she would guard or cover anyone. But if they brought harm, she would even murder a newborn baby. The only exception to this rule would be her maker and mother, Jenny Pollendina, but she was no longer in this world.
"Breathing, movements, line of sight, speech… Considering these factors, the current number of flugel that suspect master's existence: zero people. No strange or unnatural points… Attack: unnecessary. Continuing observation… Standing by…"
Her mask-like face was frozen, expressionless. It was as if an automated doll were watching from the skies.
She collected data on each and every being in her sight for future use, saving their faces and habits into her memory banks.
Then she spotted one of her comrades, Haruka, entering the white town. She was loitering in front of the clock tower in the center of town as if she was waiting for someone.
Penny most likely didn't remember her because of a fault in her memory data, so she didn't know much about Haruka. But according to her master, the redhead girl was very well-informed and knowledgeable about many places. It could be that she had an acquaintance in this town.
"-!"
As Penny was monitoring the entire town, she spotted a strange figure. It was a handsome man with gray hair wearing sunglasses.
Normally, one would surmise from his lack of wings that he was just a human who came to sightsee or something.
But Penny's robotic eyes would not allow such lies. With one look, she saw through the man's disguise as a regular human with machine-like precision.
"…Confirmed unnatural skin color unique to mimicry. Fangs confirmed from bulge in upper lip. grimmfolk's vertical-slit crimson pupils visually confirmed from gap in sunglasses. Conclusion: 98% chance of being a grimmfolk in disguise. Complete: classifying as enemy.… Conjecture: given direction and line of sight, 87% chance the enemy's destination is the clock tower, or the enemy will at least reach the clock tower on the way to his destination. Danger: enemy will make contact with Haruka if he is allowed to continue. In fulfillment of conditions for elimination."
Penny's cold, robotic eyes glinted ominously as she flipped over her skirt, revealing two machine guns that seemingly popped out of nowhere. Penny unhesitatingly equipped them.
They were weapons called 'guns' which were originally only equippable by the Gunner class, a higher class than Archers. These weapons, which were commonplace one thousand years ago, were now rare in this day and age.
Regardless, Penny readied those rare weapons and made a steep dive, causing an explosive sound. Penny descended upon the town while leaving behind sonic booms, landing in front of the suspicious man.
Thanks to the steel doll landing in the middle of town, the ground cracked and pieces flew through the air. Penny stepped forward from the resulting cloud of dust, cutting off the man she'd concluded was a grimmfolk.
"Wha-?!… A golem in this place?!"
"Warning, grimmfolk. If you insist on continuing forward, I will use force to eliminate you. In that case, I cannot guarantee your life. Is that understood? It is strongly recommended that you retreat from this place."
Raising her alertness level so that she could attack at any time, Penny issued her final warning while guardedly readying herself for battle. Meanwhile, Penny's eyes continued to gather data on her opponent, attempting to estimate his combat ability.
One of Penny's skills— 'Search Eye'—carried the same effect as Naru's Observing Eye.
From the data Penny obtained, she understood that her opponent's level was 320 and his HP was 25000. As long as she didn't let her guard down, there was no way for her to lose against such an opponent. But considering modern power levels, he was very strong.
"What do you mean grimmfolk, Miss? As you can see, I'm just a traveler who stopped by to see the sights."
"Behind those sunglasses you have vertical-slit crimson pupils. Your upper lip is slightly bulging and judging from the pattern of your skeletal structure and differences in musculature… I have concluded that you are a grimmfolk in disguise."
"…I see. So I've been found out. Oh well. That just makes things faster." Whether or not he was finished talking, Penny noticed the slight movements his muscles made. She sensed him putting power into the tips of his toes and slightly bending at the knee.
Concluding that those were preparative motions for kicking off the ground, Penny immediately upped her alertness level, her thoughts shifting towards battle.
The man jumped forward hard enough to cause the ground to explode behind him, but Penny guarded against his kick.
The power in his kick was superhuman, but he was kicking against a similar, inhumanly hard arm.
The clash caused a hard, metallic sound to ring out, and the toes of the feet the man kicked with broke.
"!?"
"Confirmed hostile action. Commencing attack."
Penny swung her arm, forcefully throwing the man away, and using the small bit of space that opened up between them, her eyes shifted.
Both of Penny's eyes unleashed lasers, piercing through the ground.
The man disappeared! Using some light footwork, he'd disappeared into Penny's blind spot and charged at her from behind.
But a blind spot to a human was nothing to a golem like Penny.
Penny's arms bent in a way that would never work for a human, guarding against the man's kick. Then, her head snapped around 180 degrees! She shot her eye lasers at the man once again.
"WhooOOps?!"
The man managed to hurriedly jump backwards to avoid the attack, but Penny pressed her advantage.
She turned her whole body around, returning her arm and head to their normal positions before readying her machine guns and immediately blasting away on full auto!
Each gun was capable of shooting a thousand rounds a minute. So added up, Penny was putting a ridiculous 2000 bullets per minute downrange. Penny didn't bother putting anything like a silencer on them, of course, so the clamorous noise of gunfire rang through the town in broad daylight, disturbing its peace.
The man desperately avoided Penny's fire, kicking off the side of a building to make a great leap.
But Penny was aiming for when he was in midair and couldn't maneuver. Penny instantly switched weapons in order to shoot down her currently vulnerable enemy.
"Skill selection: releasing right arm limiter. Right Scale: 'Zuben El Genubi' Release!" Penny announced, and her right arm literally released itself.
Her fingers, palms, and upper arm all rearranged themselves, accompanied with the appropriate mechanical sounds. In a scant second it became a giant cannon with a meter-long barrel.
"—Fire!"
All the houses around Penny instantly had their windows shattered.
The cannon shot out a straight torrent of light that seemed like it would go on forever. Its white brilliance was accompanied with sparks and lightning as it raced through the sky, baring its fangs at the grimmfolk man.
But the moment the blast seemed like it would hit, the man was suddenly pushed aside by a torrent of wind and escaped. He'd dodged Penny's bombardment. In fact, he continued to change directions mid-air as if he were riding the wind and once again charged towards Penny.
Penny shot her machine guns wildly in an attempt to intercept him, but all of her bullets were turned aside.
"I've got you!"
"—!"
Penny blocked the man's spinning kick with the barrel of her gun.
But the grimmfolk's leg cut into the gun, ripping away about half of it. His kick power was far sharper than any normal blade atack. The man had infused a wind magic on his leg. That was what cut her weapon.
Penny instantly figured that out, and she noticed that there was a change in the wind, concluding that the man had manipulated wind in order to enhance his kick that could even cut metal.
"You can freely control wind… I see. So your attribute is Wood."
"Well done figuring that out. I commend you. You are correct. I can use the power of nature. My element is Wood. I am one of the grimmfolk's Grimms of Destruction , Mercury the Grimm of Wood. Name yourself, doll. You are no mere puppet."
The man introduced himself even though he wasn't asked and undid his disguise. His previously almost human-colored skin turned an eerie white, and he removed his sunglasses, revealing vertical-slit crimson pupils with black scelera.
Penny had no obligation to name herself just because he did, but not doing so would go against her pride as a maid. He'd introduced himself, so she would do the same. That was the way of maids and part of her pride as one who served Lunaru Fenris. So Penny returned her arms to their normal state, pinched the hem of her skirt and curtsied neatly.
"Well met, Mercury. I am one of the Heavenly Twelve Zodiac's Guardians, Penny of Libra Constellation. I am pleased to make your acquaintance."
"Ohh? The Guardian of Libra Constellation, said to be the best at annihilation among the Twelve Zodiac's Guardians, huh? I heard you were destroyed in the Grave. So that really was just a hoax." Mercury laughed, amused, before taking a stance with his leg.
At first glance it seemed to be a regular leg, but his leg was adorned with invisible wind, forming blades.
The 'Wood' element—as the name implied, it manipulated trees and plants but was also the element of wider nature, allowing it to control wind as well. As for its affinities with other elements, it was strong against Earth and weak against Metal.
And Penny's attribute was 'Metal'.
Its specialty was strengthening substances like one's own body, weapons, or armor. Those with the metal attribute pulverized their enemies by strengthening themselves to be as hard as the greatest of metals.
There were aspects of the element that resembled alchemy, so the attribute had high compatibility with Alchemists. The attribute was strong against Wood but weak to Fire.
In other words, Penny had the complete advantage in this fight in both levels and attributes.
Considering just how few disadvantages she had, Penny had calculated her chances of winning this fight at 99%. But she still didn't let her guard down. There would be no mercy.
Penny put away her machine guns before raising her left arm.
"Skill Selection: releasing left arm limiter. Left scale: 'Zuben Es Chamali' Release!"
This time, it was her left arm that transformed.
Her left hand shrank into her wrist as if it was being sucked in, and instead, a blade that shined bluish-white appeared.
If Penny's right scale was a main cannon for long-range fights, then her left scale was her main weapon for melee combat. A barrier of wind would mean nothing against this. It would only be cut like everything else.
"Prepare yourself," the doll declared with an emotionless voice.
Then, the verniers on her back ignited and she accelerated towards her enemy.