The Return (I)

I flew so fast and so hard that I overlooked the days passed in a blink of an eye. I couldn't leave Coco another second with the Titan, and I knew that time wasn't my best friend. The thought of something happening to Coco made my head swirl with dark ideas and worry that I didn't have a wink of sleep for two days straight. It wasn't until Tart started begging me to take a rest did I actually rest.

Even still, I couldn't sleep well because of the nightmares that cropped up repeatedly in my head, making it hard to fall asleep. The most I got was a couple of hours, which surprisingly enough was all I needed.

Once again, flying through the air, I passed through the thick, lush forest that endlessly spanned out into the horizon, until eventually, the trees started thinning out. The forest was quickly gone and what I saw was fertile plains and rolling plains. The hills were like small mounds with lush green grass slowly tapering off into a slightly desert-like area.

I wasn't too happy that we were coming back close to the Orc's land. Just the thought of seeing them possibly again made me frown. Still, I wasn't there for them anyway, so it wasn't a big deal.

There was a heavy lingering smell that whiffed in the air the closer I got to the Titan. It made my toes curl, my stomach do strange flips, and even my head spin. What was more shocking was that the plants started to pale and become brown and lifeless. I didn't know what was causing this strange disturbance, but I could tell that it would be a problem.

"It smells so bad." Tart whined, holding his nose with his fingers and breathing through his mouth. "Young mistress, I can't go any further….or I might lose….consciousness." He looked like he was melting on my back as he sagged. His whole body and expression seemed so miserable that I couldn't help but feel bad for him, but at the same time, he wanted to come here.

I understood him perfectly; the smell was just getting worse and worse. Any further and my delicate stomach would hurl up all my breakfast.

"What is this vile smell?" Cathy spoke disgustedly. "It smells like the Durian Lizard's Fart mixed with the Hairy Armpit Monkey's pisses when it goes foul."

I wasn't sure what each one of those monsters individually smelled like or what they looked like, but I might instantly know what she was talking about if I ever met those creatures. Though, I had to wonder what kind of strange monsters, they were for Cathy to spew out such strange names. They're many odd monsters and creatures that I had seen in this world, but they were many more that I didn't know of.

"It's the Titan," Phil growled, even though he was having a hard time trying not to inhale the foul air. "I brought some purifying plants to help counter the smell."

"You have something!?" Tart bolted up and grabbed Phil's hand. His eyes twinkling as he stared at Phil with hope.

Phil flinched from Tart's sudden closeness. He peeled off Tart, who was desperately holding on to him. "Yes…..It's going to help lessen the smell, but it won't completely get rid of it."

"I don't care! Just anything to stop this horrible smell!"

"Then you shouldn't have come."

Tart expression changed as it turned serious, the light in his eyes sharpened, he frowned at Phil in what he had said. He was offended, and he balled up his fist. "Coco and Tart are my friends and family. I will never just sit back and watch them get hurt or worse, die."

The words that Start had said made Phil a bit surprised; he nodded his head. "But then why are you complaining as if you don't want to tag along? We all know how bad the smell is; having you add to it doesn't make it any better."

With a huff, Tart turned his nose upwards. "I can complain, can't I? My sense of smell is keener than all of you guys combined, and it's 100x worse than what you smell now. Do you think I don't have any right to complain after that?"

The air was getting tense as the two were squaring off. Both Phil and Tart were right, yes Tart got a bit annoying whining, but his nose was far superior than any of us combined. He had every right to complain about the foul air, and I wouldn't even want to be in his shoes.

Not only that, for him to come along to save Coco was truly knowledgeable and brave. There weren't many people out there to stick their life for another, meaning Tart and this group was a rare exception.

Phil didn't say anything for a moment and finally replied. "I believe that sharing your complaints and smelling it at the same time is not going to help any of us. We don't need a reminder of the obvious." His words were like a slap against Tart. Tart's face started to crinkle up into a snarl. I knew Phil was a blunt type of guy and had a tendency to spur up unnecessary trouble. Maybe it was his demon lord title. I wasn't sure.

"You better watch what you say to the elf."

"Or what?"

"Or I'm going to-"

"Enough." I let out a loud command, breaking the two squabbles. "I don't need you both squabbling on my back. If you're going to continue fighting, I'm going to toss you both off my back."

They were surprised at what I had said; they clamped their mouths shut and stood silent.

"Phil. Pass out the purifying plant that you have."

Phil didn't grumble or complain. In actuality, he seemed unaffected by my snarl. He seemed to do some strange hand movement, and I then saw him pull out five necklaces in different sizes. There was a cute red leaf, the size of a marble, inside the crystal amulet in each one. Instantly, the air around all of us started to freshen up, dampening the horrible smell by four-fifth of its usually smell, making all of us sigh in relief.

Tart eyes became big. He stared at the necklaces in Phil's hand. "You found the rare Purifying Red leaf? How?��� His attention instantly turned towards Phil in shock.

"Is it that rare?" Styrd asked, staring at the necklace in Phil's hand. "Even before the necklace, I didn't smell anything."

Everyone stared at him in shock. I thought he had a broken nose if he couldn't smell the vile smell lingering in the air. It was just too weird, but I didn't say anything. This could be one of his unique skills that I didn't know about until now. It also made sense of how the Orcs could be fine in the presence of a Titan.

Phil cleared his throat. "It's a specialty grown in the Leaf's family home. They are known to cultivate rare plants and sell them across countries." He started to hand out one for everyone, except Stryd, who shook his head no.

Tart took the handed necklace with glee as he instantly put it around his neck in relief. The others did the same, and their expression changed. Eventually, Phil reached over, unhooking the necklace. He murmured something under his breath as the golden necklace started to grow in size.

Kneeling on one knee, he reached over and clasped it around my neck, allowing a fresh breeze of much needed clean air that I immensely missed. Who knew I would miss something so simple that I was grateful for it.

My wings beat with more power; no more did I have to hold in my breath every few seconds, which caused me to work twice as hard in flying. Picking up speed, I flew with determination.

Even when we got closer and closer to our target, the necklace kept the stink under control, allowing me to move forward. Eventually, I was a mile away from our destination; examining down from the sky, I looked for Coco.

Then I caught sight of her, she was standing with a rope tied around her. She stood on top of the hill proudly as she was barely injured or hurt. I was a bit surprised that the Titan didn't ravage her or maybe harm her. Coco was considered a beauty, but then again, Orcs had a different sense of beauty, which I was glad about. Though I didn't know the Titan or its gender preference, it still was a relief to see her okay.

"It's a trap," Phil replied from over my shoulders. "It's not a good idea, Berry."

"I wasn't going to just swoop down from the sky and grab her." I snorted, knowing full well that this was a trap. I wasn't that stupid.

"Good," Phil patted my shoulders. "Do you see those shadows over there?" He pointed across from Coco, not too far away.

When my eyes found what he was pointing at, I noticed that they were a large group of warrior Orcs hidden under a makeshift trench, camouflaging with the ground. I wouldn't have seen it if Phil didn't point it out.

"They're waiting for you to land or swoop down from the sky. They even have a ballista hooked and ready to fire to pin you down."

I shuddered, disliking the thought of being impaled by harpoon looking arrows.

"We're going to have to break up into two teams. One to extract her while you distract them. Do you think you can do that?"

"Yea," I nodded, "I'll drop you off over there, behind those hills. It should be enough to give us

cover from their view."

"Good idea."

I banked towards the right, swiveling in the thick clouds as I made my way over towards the hills. What happened next completely surprised me as something whooshed through the air and pierced through the clouds. My body made a weird jerking motion as I dodged out of harm's way from whatever it was.

Something long and shiny shot past me, knocking my wings. With a flurry of quick beats, I spiraled into a loop, getting my position back on track. The others held on tightly, knowing full well that they would die if they let go. The majority of them tied themselves with rope to pin them down to my back.

"Another one incoming!" Cathy shouted. Her hands shimmered with magic as her Legendary weapon, Gala, appeared into existence. A loud metal against metal sound vibrated outwards with a horizontal strike as she deflected the large metal spears the size of her whole arm and half the thickness of her body aside. Her whole hand tingled as she knew that the power behind the attack wasn't from a normal ballista.

I flew in an S like motion, trying to dodge as many metal spears as possible. At first, it was only a few, but suddenly the number of spears being thrown increased by three folds, making my flight into an acrobatic.

"Where is it coming from?!" Tart was holding on, straining his neck to find the source. "Over there! On the left!"

I searched, looking for where he was pointing. When I found the being that was throwing the spear, I knew instantly who or what it was. It was the Titan.

The Titan was more significant than all the Orcs, though he didn't look colossal like I had imagined. He was buff, looking like an overly buff muscled creature, with ugly scars and a scrunched up face that looked even angrier every time he moved. He wore a very simple armor covering his chest and legs, while a helmet covered his head. His helmet had three horns sticking out from both sides and the front.

They were tons of metal spears laid out to the side as the Orcs handed them one-by-one. The Titan's muscles bulked up. He drew back and snarled. With a powerful throw, he chucked it towards me.

Alarmed, I flipped in midair a bit too short as the spear pierced into my wings, tearing into it. A loud painful roar erupted out of my throat as the pain traveled up my wings. My flight faltered, causing me to spin out of control. I had to flap hard to get back in control; not wanting to lose altitude, I opened up my wings to their full potential to catch my fall. That was my mistake.

Another four spears flew in the air, each one tearing a bigger hole into my wings, causing me to lose height even faster.

Pain was shocked through my whole wings, but it wasn't an unbearable pain. It was a tingle that reminded me of when I stubbed my toes. Other than that, it wasn't a big deal.

I knew that I wouldn't be able to keep flying with the weight on my back at this rate.

The others tried to deflect as many spears as possible, but when the Titan saw that Cathy and Phil was deflecting it, he changed course and aimed for my wings, making it difficult for them to get too.

"Everyone, get ready for impact!" I shouted out of the top of my lungs. There was no way I would go down quickly. I swerved in the air and headed away from the Titan towards land.

My wings tucked in my body, saving whatever was left before it got completely broken and impaled. We dropped from the sky like a bullet, falling with as much grace and safety as I could. Metal spears flew across my neck and body, but none of them hurt either me or the others. In the last minute, before I hit the ground, I snapped open my wings, bringing stability as I braced for impact.

The back legs touched the ground first, giving me the stability needed to land on my front. But even still, the speed of the fall caused me to stumble a little as I tried to spread out the impact. I could absorb most of it with my wings, but it wasn't enough for me to tumble forward.

Everyone flew off my back, cushioning their falls far better than mine. Both Cathy and Phil did a diving roll at the last second as they unhitched themselves from the rope. Tart was able to slip out just in time. Only Stryd was still stuck to my body, rolling along with me.

It was pure luck that Stryd didn't get squashed and died, in which that would've been the end of his life and all his races. My tail was the last thing to slam onto the ground from the tumble. My head was knocked around a little bit from the trees I skidded into.

"Their coming!" Phil shouted. He had Laurel out, flashing forward as he struck like a snake. Orcs rushed in on all sides, their spears and clubs raised up over their head as they swung.

"Duck!" Cathy shouted. She sprung forward from the roll and impaled into the Ocr that was behind Phil. Gala gleamed wickedly red as blood dripped down its side. It brilliantly sparkled, drinking its blood like a vampire, absorbing it in seconds.

"Thanks!" Phil ducked in time; he did a sweeping low kick to the second Orc that came rushing towards him. His sword flashed upwards, impaling it in its head as he drew back in one fluid flow when he stood up.

"We need to get out of here!"

Tart shifted into his giant black wolf form; he bolted forward, snarling as he tore through his enemy like butter. His teeth glistened with blood, his eyes red and glowing, while his claws penetrated armor. From one Orc to another, he sprung forward, landing on top of them in one go. He struck, tearing into their heads and spitting them out as they became headless.

Stryd groaned, his head whirling as he fumbled to untie himself. When he did, he dropped to the ground, rubbing his forehead.

I shook my ringing head, the pain from my back, jostling around the ground, and a pretty heavy thump to my head didn't make it any better. Getting my bearings straight, I rolled over.

In alarm, Stryd scuttled onto his feet, jumping backward from being almost squashed by me. "Be careful!" He yelled, "You almost squashed me!"

"Sorry," I replied, shaking my head as I got onto my feet. My tail flicked back and forth, hitting against the rocks and trees, causing them to splinter.

"Berry! Hurry up and get up!" Phil was fighting against an Orc head-to-head, trying to keep them from overwhelming us. "They're going to surround us!"

With one last shake of my body, I was finally stabilized. The whirling headaches were gone as I was able to see in front of me. My vision cleared, and my tail whipped around me, causing a couple of Orcs to fall face forward with a splat. Their armors clattered loudly, and one of them was unfortunate enough to land on their own weapon, impaling themselves.

I was quite surprised that something like that was happening in real life, but I didn't get to enjoy the moment my enemy fell onto its own blade. Instead, I lunged forward, my tail lashing around me like a whip.

Everyone was either flung to the side, thrown across the plains, or were killed with my claws. There was no way I was going to allow them to get close to my group.

A couple of Orcs came bumbling over with spears as they threw it at my body. It perfectly bounced off without much harm, causing them to break. They shouted a couple of angry words but didn't get much to say after I ripped them to shreds.

My vision was turning red, making me go straight into my dragon instinct. I let my other side of myself take over, allowing my attacks to be much more ferocious and deadly. My jaws snapped and tore through skin and bone, crunching down on the very armor itself. Cries of anguish could be heard as they died in my mouth as I spat them back out onto their own as they were covered in blood.

It became a mess of blood, gore, and pieces of their body flying around everywhere. The fight was one-sided, but they had numbers and pure mindless strength, though it seemed like the others didn't seem to be phased by it.

Phil was sweeping through them like a flyswatter with his superb sword skill. On the other hand, Cathy had a more acrobatic approach that kept her on her tiptoes, jumping from one enemy to another, dashing across their heads as if they were steps.

"Die, you bastards!" Cathy screeched; her lips were plastered with an evil grin that made her beautiful face deadly. Even hearing such cuss words coming out of her mouth was shocking to hear. She then cackled as she swung her blade; magic swirled around her like a wind, sending out a powerful shockwave of energy that splashed outwards, hitting everyone squarely in the body.

They stumbled backward, while Tart dashed in as he kicked off on one and decapitated the other.

The slews of Orcs died so quickly that it made them back up in fear. They didn't expect that we would put up such a ferocious fight and kill quite a bit of them as quite a bit of them was presently laid out in pieces or in a pile around us of death and carnage.

Suddenly, a metal spear three times the size of Phil flew through the air and landed squarely between Phil and me. I luckily took a step back, or my hand would've been pierced. With a snap of my head, a low hiss escaped my lips. I glared at the being that tossed such a dangerous object in front of me.

"Well. Well. Well." A deep husky voice spoke out loud as the crowd of Orcs broke apart, allowing the Titan to walk through. Each step, he pridefully moved forward as his nose was silently pointed up in the air. "If it isn't Berry."

I froze for a split moment, confused.

"Do I know you?" My voice rumbled low, wearily watching him as my hand reached over towards the metal spear. Reaching over, I pressed down upon it as it fell to the ground with a thump, kicking up dirt in the air.

The Titan exaggeratedly gasped. He feigned as if he was hurt. "How could you forget about me, Berry? I am your biggest fan."

My claws dug into the ground, unease at how he knew my name. I knew that Coco wouldn't just give up my name, and there was nobody that I knew that would come to the Orc Village in the first place.

"You don't know?" The Titan's shoulders sagged; he shook his head at me, not knowing. It bothered him immensely that I didn't. "I was the one who hunted you down." He pointed at himself on his chest a couple of times.

I stood still, not answering him, trying to remember when he hunted me down. There were no single instances when I met him in this world, meaning that what he said didn't make any sense.

The Titan sighed. "I hunted you down, but you escaped my fingers. If it wasn't for that damn demon lord back in Tokyo…..what was his name again?" He snapped his fingers, suddenly remembering. "Adriel! That was that stupid elf!"

When I heard Adriel's name, a flash of memory skidded across my mind. Everything was coming back, the day I was kidnapped, almost sold or killed, and even ferried away by a lunatic. If it wasn't for my idiocracy, I wouldn't have been in that situation, but apparently, it wasn't so.

"Wait….are you, Rei?" I asked, for Rei to be here was not possible. Transferring from worlds wasn't something that could be quickly done.