Soul Merger

It had been a while since she'd done a youkai hunt Akari mused. Of course the situation was fairly different. Back home she had a lot more authority. But the goal was the same. Find whatever was causing a problem, and deal with it.

Right now was the most important part. Narrowing the search area. "So this is the area of the known disappearances?" she asked, tracing over the pins on the map.

"It's where the people were from," Rosalina clarified. "We don't know where they disappeared, otherwise we'd know where they were."

Clara grimaced. "Don't suppose we know what time they vanished either."

"Nothing concrete," Rosalina confirmed. "We've got no solid information past the fact that they vanished. However at least some of the disappearances were during the day, since the victims were always back at home by nightfall."

"Kinda creepy," Kotori opined.

"I must agree," Raiel said, looking over the area. "I'm not sure how we'll begin our search without more information."

Akari carefully studied the map. "In some cases absence of evidence is a type of evidence. We know at least some the children weren't the types to randomly go swimming or sneak out to the docks at night."

Rosalina nodded. "That's what Olivia said, and I trust her. But, they might have gotten lost or been tricked."

"Trickery leaves witnesses, and people who are lost around others usually ask for ask directions. That would leave evidence. Stories." She tapped the map, where a dotted line of green traced along a road. "It's possible we missed something and will have to look elsewhere, but this is the best place to start."

"The Green Line?" Clara traced it. "Why there? It's just a park people use as a commons because the ground's too miserable to use for anything else. Suppose there's the old transit pillars and rumors of curses because anyone who tries to build there gets screwed. But that's got nothing to do with people disappearing."

"Because it's the perfect area for someone to be kidnapped without anyone noticing," Akari replied. "There's plenty of spaces in a city where you can grab someone, but then where do you take them without being seen? The water is an option, but we can't search there and the fisherfolk would likely have noticed. But a semi wild commons? It's both a place that people would visit, and one where it's easier to make people disappear."

The others seemed to slowly come around to her reasoning. Kotori asked the obvious question. "But what if it was water related? Or someone who can fly?"

"Then we'll have to start again from scratch," Akari admitted. "This is the one place where we have a chance to find evidence, so it's the best place to start."

"Well, I don't have anything better," Clara said. "Let's take a walk in the park."

Alissa wasn't used to awkwardness and happiness hitting her at the same time. Her evening with Fili had gone great, as had the morning after, but after that they both realized they'd crossed so many lines so fast they couldn't even see where they'd started.

And so while they'd been eating breakfast she'd been trying to figure out how to figure out where they were without suggesting that she had a problem with it. If she'd written down every bad idea she'd had it'd fill a dumpster.

Finally though she'd constructed one line she was sure couldn't be misunderstood. "So, should we bother to tell the rest of the team we're dating or just assume they figured it out? Since everyone's been hinting we should date for like a month."

Fili blushed a little but she was smiling. "We should probably make it official. Since this isn't like Rosalina's casual dating."

There was the faintest hint of a question there, so Alissa gave a firm nod. "Yeah. It's a good practice." She took a deep breath. Now that the ice had been properly broken she moved on to the actual important stuff. "So... I'm guessing you're just as clueless as me when it comes to what we're supposed to do while dating? They don't cover this in romance novels."

"Well according to the romance novels we're supposed to run into some horrid conflict that threatens our love," Fili replied. "But I'd prefer to skip that."

"Same." Alissa tried to look for a good question. "Well... let's start with the basics. I'm good with us living next door for now. My place is a little small."

Fili seemed a little surprised at the thought of living together but she quickly recovered. "That's good. We'll buy a mansion later."

Alissa laughed at that. "Not a nice little tower? Or are those only allowed on academy grounds?"

"They're more expensive and way less fun," Fili said. "Just imagine all the stairs. No thanks. Not again."

"Oh. Yeah that'd defeat the purpose of spending all that money." If you were going to live in luxury it should be luxurious. Alissa considered the next question. "So we'll keep up the dating phase. That actually sounds fun. Even if we always end the night at my place."

Alissa found herself heat up as Fili gave her a seductive glance. "Well we could go to my place if you want to taunt Rosalina with what she can't have."

She waved aside the sweet syrup strawberry scent and forced herself to think clearly. "She'd just look for ways to join. It'd be a mess."

A hint of violet matched Fili's cheeks. "Yeah, you're right. Bad idea." Fili paused then looked up at her. "So, uh, I've been wanting to ask this since yesterday but I kept forgetting..."

There had been a number of distractions, Alissa mentally admitted. "Go ahead. I'm curious now too."

"You mentioned something about me smelling like strawberry." The violet smell increased with Fili's blush. "Uh could you explain?"

Interesting. Alissa hadn't considered that Fili didn't know what she smelled like. "You have different scents depending on your mood. Strawberry is romantic. Violet when you're worried or embarrassed. Lemon when you're tired. And I think moss is when you're depressed. The rest I haven't quite figured out."

Fili blinked at her. "Really? Wait, how did you notice all that? No one else mentioned it."

"Well, I am a succubus merge. It's probably too faint for most people to notice," Alissa replied. She smiled a little. "I smelled it when I carried you back to my place the first time. I thought it was a special perfume, but it changed in the morning so it had to be something natural to you."

The mage pulled out a piece of parchment and started scribbling. "Amazing! Those enhanced senses revealed an unknown piece of slime merge abilities! I wonder if I can work to enhance or suppress them. Tha-" Fili stopped and looked up in embarrassment. "Sorry."

"Don't be," Alissa said. "You're cute when you get obsessed with research." She grinned at Fili and pulled her cloak close to her stomach. "Besides if I want your attention I know how to get it."

Fili gulped, her eyes transfixed. "Okay." After a moment she looked down at the papers. "Uh, oh right, slime scents and tastes! What others have you noticed!"

Alissa chuckled. "Well when you get super focused like this it's a mint, but I've also noticed a metallic smell so I'm not sure which is which...."

Akari quickly realized why this patch of green had been left alone. The place was a mess of magic. Raiel and Kotori were on edge almost immediately. "It's been a while since I encountered chaos grounds. Interesting how they occur most in cities."

"What do you mean chaos grounds?" Raiel asked. "I can tell it's magical, but it's not like a dungeon."

She nodded. "Dungeons have multiple types of magical and spiritual forces, but they all merge together to some degree. For some reason chaos grounds just have a mass of forces jumbled together without rhyme or reason. It means monsters can't form because there's nothing solid to condense around."

"But they could survive here," Rosalina said, cracking her knuckles.

"So if there was a leftover from the Outbreak they would be hanging out here," Clara muttered. She had her hand on her axe.

Kotori shivered. "I wouldn't wanna live here. It's a mess."

"Monsters also are driven to kill," Rosalina said. "So if it was a breakout survivor, it'd have to be fey, angel, or demon."

"Not dragon?" Clara said with a chuckle.

Akari smiled briefly. "It hasn't sent out demands for tithes to the locals, so probably not."

They started down the stretch, ignoring the looks of the fruit and mushroom hunters. The nice clearings on the sides weren't what they were interested in. It was the overgrown areas, the tickets and the little hidden pockets.

Unfortunately looking through those was a miserable experience. The plants resisted their efforts, and the thorns used to keep away grazing deer were just as effective against Akari's hands. She let Rosalina handle a lot of the nastier spots. The benefits of dragon scale.

"I fear I can't sense anything in this muddled mess," Raiel said as they started towards a copse of waist high grass. "It's not just the magic, I think there's something about the plants here that cover up traces."

Akari blinked. "Possible. Or perhaps there's a fey at work." That would make things more difficult. She didn't have much experience with western fey. In fact her in depth experience began and ended with the Cait Sith she'd accidentally killed and merged with. "Maybe we should go back and get Fili." The mage would have knowledge the rest of them lacked.

"Wait a moment." Clara closed her eyes and inhaled. "I can smell blood. Still a little liquid."

It could be a clue, or it could be nothing, but they'd have to take a chance. "Lead the way."

Clara headed to the thicket, taking a few steps into the grass, then stopped. "Whoa, watch your step." Akari moved to her side and saw a hole dropping into an old drainage canal. That would explain how the blood had kept from drying out.

Raiel waved her hand and a soft light filled the passage. "This should help."

"Thanks," Clara replied before lowering herself in. The tall woman helped the rest down into the oversized tunnel one by one.

Akari looked around to see it was still mostly intact, made of thick concrete. Water ran down the center, but the sides were raised to allow human workers. Strange for a drain of this type. And two smears of blood were visible on that walkway.

Kotori flapped over and sniffed. "Hm, human and something else. Ugh, it's foul."

"Demon," Raiel said quietly. "I can sense it now."

"Not good," Akari muttered. Demons were quite dangerous. Hopefully it was a lesser one.

Rosalina and Clara checked the stains. "The human is still alive," Clara said. "And the path to reach them is down. Demon's dead."

"Looks like knife wounds," Rosalina said looking the blood pools over. "The human was carried away. The demon dragged."

"Which means there's multiple people involved," Akari muttered. "We should get Fili and Alissa." This had gone from a hunt to a delve.

Rosalina shook her head. "One second. There's something we need to confirm first."

"You think there's a breach," Clara said.

"I'm sure there's a breach," Rosalina replied walking downstream.

She'd gone ten feet when she whirled and slammed her hand into the wall, which screamed and burst into black blood. Akari blinked as the illusion faded, revealing a half splattered demon and a crack in the wall that quickly widened into a dungeon passage. "Kuso," she muttered. This was a serious problem.

"A breach and demons kidnapping people," Rosalina said with distaste. "It's time to tell the guild."