Snakes in The Burning Grass II

"General Bavel?"

"Hey, that's General Bavel, right?"

"She's the Transcendental that HQ sent?

"It seems that this will all be dealt with quickly."

"We'll soon return to our post then, right? I should probably head over and pack up my equipment - I have to go back to the mountain range separating the Southern and Eastern Collectives."

"The Lunar Range, right? Good luck with that man, I heard that the beasts over there were growing rowdier and rowdier by the day."

"Yeah–"

While Maple was taking Nizael to the barricade, they had to make their way through the encampment, when they walked by the soldiers they would start talking to each other once catching a glimpse of Nizael.

She was certainly the center of attention wherever she went. Not because of looks, not because of what she wore, even if her military clothing brought her more attention. No. It was because she was the most respected person in all the collectives, even if there might be some celebrities, like the Quaker in the eighth collective, she was still a popular figure and figurehead.

Through all the chatter of those around them, Nizael was thoroughly ignoring their words since she had long gotten used to them, it was easy for her to ignore them.

Maple, on the other hand, found them irritating. She was surely used to gossip and people talking behind her back, but many took to shutting their mouths with her around.

She felt there was something wrong with the soldiers if they couldn't keep their utterances in their heads as they were now. If Nizael weren't here and not saying anything, then she would have duly levied punishments on these soldiers who knew not what focus was.

But she held herself back, after all, if her superior wasn't bothered by it, she wasn't supposed to be bothered either.

This was probably what the soldiers they passed by wanted as well; seeing the irritation in Coraline Maple's frustrated face certainly cheered them up.

This is the reaction everyone in the encampment imagined when they heard it was General Bavel that had arrived here. She was known for her nonchalant and lackadaisical nature towards almost everything. They knew that she wouldn't mind having unfocused soldiers, well at least, they hoped they knew.

Other than this, Maple had other things on her mind as well; she looked at the satchel bag that was hanging off Nizael's hip.

"Might I ask what's in your bag, General?"

Taken out of her thoughts for a moment, Nizael looked down at her bag, before chuckling to herself and looking Maple into the eyes.

"It's nothing. Just some toys of mine, don't worry about it."

Nodding upon receiving an answer, Maple once more went into silence, allowing Nizael to return to her thoughts. After a few moments, she spoke up once more.

"General, might I ask why you allow for this incessant chatter to continue?"

As the two women were walking Maple raised a question to Nizael, keeping a respectful tone.

"This situation is not serious nor dire enough to warrant their utmost focus, but... we are in the open, so I suppose they should at least pay attention to what they are to do."

Concluding what to do, Nizael nodded to herself almost absentmindedly.

"..."

"Right, go ahead and order them to return to their stations."

As she gave her permission to do so, she wasn't able to get a glimpse of the blank expression Maple had spread across her face.

"Yes, Ma'am..."

Slowly nodding her head Coraline Maple was thankful for getting permission to silence all these fools.

"Quiet! Return to your stations before I make you walk across the Naskers Cavern!"

"Ri-Right away, Ma'am!"

Hurriedly scattering in a multitude of directions the soldiers quickly returned to their stations and removed themselves from Coraline Maple's fierce gaze.

With a breath of relief a content smile formed on her face, she was happy to have gotten to release her frustrations on something, on someone, honestly.

Looking at the General, Maple could tell that she was pleased with their frantic movements just from the curvature of her eyes. Nizael's reaction only left her with a simple thought: 'I guess I was fine to act however I pleased.'

***

Arriving at the forefront of the encampment, in front of the barricade; Nizael couldn't help but let out a whistle as she took in the sight before her. While she was staring, she was taking her time to analyze the situation.

"General, I see you've made it."

Coming from out of sight, the Platoon Commander walked up and took place next to Nizael, giving Coraline Maple a slight nod.

"Indeed, PC Talon, I had to see what the commotion was all about after all."

Nodding his head, Talon took hold of a pair of binoculars that hung off the side of the barricade before looking through them, checking for any new changes.

"Mm, so, what do you think of this situation? You're the expert on matters like this, General. Surely you can explain what this is. It's my first time experiencing something like this happening down here in the south."

"Perhaps because..."

Leaning forward onto the barricade, Nizael muttered to herself for a mere moment before returning her attention to the Platoon Commander.

"It shouldn't be a major issue, it just seems I need to speed some things up and have a chat with someone."

"Sorry?"

Shrugging off the man's question she stepped over the barricade and sat on the ground with her legs crossed before digging into the ground before her; forming multiple holes.

"Nothing, I was just talking to myself. Anyways I can handle this easily, you and your soldiers though – need to take yourselves a bit further back, this barricade is much too close."

Nodding his head, PC Talon took his eyes away from the binoculars and looked down at her – his curiousness blatantly obvious.

"I'll do as you command, General. But, might I ask what you plan to do?"

Pulling a few objects made out of miniature triangles, she entered commands on each of their virtual keyboards. Once she did this she looked up at Talon with a slight smirk on her face.

"Nothing much, just a bit of pounding."

"Excuse me?"

Not answering his question, Nizael stood and walked past the six holes she had just built. Waving her hand back and forth she ushered him on.

"Just hurry on with it."

"General!"

As soon as she stepped past them the objects she had just put into the ground had expanded out into the air as large pillars made of a million more triangles before they descended and slammed down behind the mass of fire, obscuring everyone's vision, the General disappearing inside it.

Everyone was put out of it for a moment, especially Maple. She had asked the General earlier what she had in the satchel but she had no idea she was carrying six Phase Four TIOTs.

Even though she knew exactly what a TIOT was commonly used for, beast containment, she had never expected the use of such an advanced version of them to be used in front of her.

Though if she was to think more on the matter, it was something that could be most expected. Forgetting the fact that Nizael was known for her wanton use of military-grade items, her family, more specifically, Lalia Bavel, was the person responsible for making the devices.

With her very own daughter being the inventor of such an item it wouldn't be too far out there to claim that she had an unlimited supply of isolation devices.

Sighing upon her surprisingly not-so-shocking revelation, Maple glanced at PC Talon and quickly responded once she received the nod of his head.

"Start moving at once, General Bavel has informed us that we should move back! Do it at once! Remove the tents and forget about the barricade, pull back the supplies and vehicles, and do not forget to make sure everything of importance is nowhere near the barricade!"

After she began speaking the soldiers had yet to move as they still had their eyes locked onto the isolation object that had just come into action, swallowing the cause of their presence and the slightly infamous, yet famous, General Bavel.

"What are you Cranks waiting for, huh!? Get a move on with it!"

Boom! Bang! Whoosh! – As if on cue with the Platoon Commander's words a loud explosion rang out followed by a slightly quieter bang coming from the TIOT. Following the two was a powerful gale of wind, causing the soldiers to cover their faces.

Immediately upon witnessing this the soldiers did as they were told to, right away. They didn't know what was happening, and in all of their minds, they thought along the lines that they didn't need to know.

Seeing everyone in action, PC Talon went to his Commanders tent, leaving Coraline Maple standing in front of the barricade to herself.

She gave the massive wall made up of many small triangles, that was now in front of her, a glance, her gaze drawn in from the resounding explosions and bangs; not knowing whether that was the General or the unidentified object.

Sighing and turning away she returned to giving out orders, after all, she had things to oversee and take charge of.

***

After the TIOTs she had just placed in the ground had risen, Nizael gazed up at its ceiling in slight amusement. She had yet to see what was different about this iteration of the isolation device so she took a few with her to test them out.

Lalia had mentioned to her that she had made it so that more than one of the devices can be used in conjunction as well as the fact that she made a huge change to the interior of them.

Looking around her, she could see the change. Although it wasn't the clearest of things, the interior of the TIOTs was showing the outside surroundings, it was reminiscent of the room that used to be her precious Lulu's art studio – perhaps that was where Lalia had gotten the idea from.

There were surely more improvements added to the devices and they were certainly amazing, but Nizael kept her focus on the strangeness in front of her.

A large mass was... standing? In front of her. A figure covered in a large mass of Flames stood in front of her and it stood there listlessly. not making a single movement.

Knowing why it was acting so she quickly made her way over to it, she had seen beings like this before and a person she had, unfortunately, made her acquaintance with had informed her of them in great detail – not to mention her encounter with them in Asora's Rift.

These things were Avatars in a way, failed avatars that is.

When the Lords' used to reside on the planet they maintained a physical form, but those forms all had a limited time placed on them, after a long time of use in these vessels they had no choice but to be forced out of them.

This is where the creation of avatars came to be. They were either people or dolls made or chosen for the sole purpose of taking in a smidgen of the Lords; powers and them having that power would allow the Lords' to appear around their avatar.

With this, they could give a chosen being opportune power while also receiving the ability to walk amongst their people, an ability they so desperately desired.

Sadly, for both the chosen and their Lord, the vision was hard to enact resulting in its utter failure. In that failure the chosen who were given the power either died or were forced to walk Ivingard as immortal, soulless, and mindless creatures.

Not wanting any chaos to ensue from their actions the Lords reluctantly took their cursed and most loyal followers and trapped them within Asora's Rift.

That's right, they were trapped within Asora's Rift, with no way to get out, not like they were capable of thinking of a way out.

The fact that one of them stood present in front of her at this very moment was very strange. The only way it could be taken all the way here would be... if someone had brought it out themselves.

Coming to that thought, Nizael scratched her head. She'd first have to deal with this thing before trying to find any clues; the likelihood of there being a traitor or spy amongst them was highly probable — not to mention unacceptable.

As she was thinking she quickly steered herself to where she was standing in front of the mass of flame, even though she was known to be a tall and towering figure — the Avatar before her made her figure a dwarf in comparison.

The Avatar was as tall as the average tree, well, the average tree on Ivingard — it stood more than four hundred feet tall.

With Nizael's sudden approach towards it, the Avatar began morphing.

Wraaa! — a deafening outcry protruded into her ears as the case underfoot was lit ablaze in the same orange flames that covered the Avatar's body.

Not too soon after its loud cry and the spread of flames to the grass a grilling heatwave followed by strange gale winds swept over Nizael, who hadn't moved an inch.

Watching all of its happenings with a blank expression she was muttering to herself in annoyance as she stretched while piping her bones.

"Ugh, here we go again. I'm really getting tired of these things."

Hah! — Nizael started chuckling to herself, not paying to the morphed flame.

"Seems I was the reason she acts that way at times, Haha. Right, I should take her with me to the meeting, it might prove to be a good experience for her.

Now then, we might as well finish this up, right big guy?"

At the raising of her question, Nizael began to glow a blinding white light that radiated heat that began to melt the ground as each step of hers formed a small hole as she bum-rushed the Avatar.

The Avatar which had morphed into an animalistic creature made of gold and orange fur, responded in a similarly vicious manner — slamming its twisting legs into the ground; after which it let out another cry, and its body was covered in dazzling gold flames.

"An Avatar of Lord Soletti, very well then."

Quickly responding to its sudden flames she waved her hand, sending out a wave of white light in front of her; thoroughly melting the ground before her and causing the surprisingly intelligent beast to back away.

It was a common occurrence she faced when facing off with Avatars. Even though she was told that they were mindless beings, they all showed at least a smidgen of intelligence or at least good instincts — it seemed the power of the Lords' didn't make them entirely mindless and reckless.

Moving to the side of the white light, the beast slapped its hand down on Nizael, countering it, she covered her fist with white light and punched at its hand, clashing with its brilliant gold flames.

Boom! Bang! Boom! — After a moment of them being in a stalemate, the Avatar swung its other leg, to which Nizael waved her hand and brought forth the white light out to defend herself.

Pulling back from the creature she couldn't help but watch the beast shrug off the pain from the burning and melting of its flesh — it was still a sight that amused her.

Nizael cringed as the smell of burnt fur and flesh entered her nostrils.

Looking down at her hand, Nizael ignored the slight sting that resulted from the Avatar's flames.

"There are certainly better ways to do this."

Saying this the metal on her arms slid into her hands, forming her signature sticks.

With the sticks in her hands, she took up a stance and squinted her eyes, creasing her few wrinkles as she watched the Avatar move once more.