Meanwhile, Tacio was still chasing down that unknown hostile. Despite his hooves and half-horse features allowing him to easily close the distance with this humanoid, he is always forced to take cover as though the hostile was princess carrying the unconscious woman, his powers allowed him to fire, cycle, and reload his bolt-action rifle and his revolver without so much as touching it with his hands. Throughout the time, the humanoid was continually shouting something at the tikbalang.


    “What in God’s name is he saying?” Tacio monologued before breaking cover. “Command. This is T-1. I have an unknown hostile saying something I don’t understand. Requesting a Russian interpreter!”


    “T-1.” a soft but firm feminine voice responded. “Why do you need an interpreter for the Lost?”


    “I have reason to believe that this unknown is not a Lost just yet. It’s seemingly speaking Russian, wearing a faded patched up military uniform with a two-headed bird on its patch on the upper left arm.”


    “Two-headed bird…? No member nations today have that insignia. Are you certain?”


    “Very. Both me and K-2 confirmed.”


    “Two-headed bird… Standby T-1.”


    “Acknowledged.” Tacio replied as he slammed the ground with his hoof, causing a large rock to pop up from the ground before palm striking it towards his target.


    As the rock traveled at high speed towards the humanoid, it quickly turned around with his fist clenched. At first it looked like he was going to smack the rock away but a shadowy blade slowly revealed itself as its sleeve receded from the momentum of its turn, slicing the projectile in half.


    “Of course…” Tacio remarked as a bullet barely flies past his right ear. “Shit!”


    The tikbalang instinctively dove into cover, ending up in a small ditch. He tried to crawl his way through but bullets were raining on his position, holding him in place.


    “Strategic…” he remarked again. “This ain’t no mindless Lost… Command! I’m pinned down by heavy fire. I REALLY need that interpreter! If you need more justification, unknown has demonstrated tactical thinking and is more cunning than a mindless monster. This is no ordinary Lost if it even is one!”


    “Acknowledged.” Command replied. “Switch to Secure Channel Musang.”


    Tacio breathes a sigh of relief. “Roger that!”


    Acting quickly, the tikbalang erected an earthen wall in front of him as he rested his back against it while he fiddled with his radio.


    Reacting to this tactic, the humanoid then used its powers to throw another grenade-like figure at the mystic while it continued its retreat.


    “Let me breathe!” Tacio exclaimed as he quickly leapt from his position, covering himself with whatever rocks and stones he could control. “Another dud… fuck!”


    He then stood his ground, ignoring the bullets that kept on ricocheting off his newly-made rock armor while he continued to fiddle with his radio. Realizing this, the humanoid threw a real grenade this time. The explosion rocked the tikbalang and shook off parts of the rock armor.


    “You gotta be kidding me!”


    Faced with few options, the Tikbalang opted to take cover by several trees standing very close to one another.


    As for the humanoid, it gently placed the unconscious lady against a tree before recalling its rifle and pistol as it stalked its target through the woods, taking pot shots and throwing a combination of dud and real grenades to force the tikbalang’s hand.


    Meanwhile, Tacio continued to fiddle with his radio and, after getting a signal, the humanoid charged towards him with a bayonet fixated on its rifle. Tacio instinctively kicked the rifle to the side as the hostile quickly let go and brought out a metal shovel.


    It swung the shovel with enough force to dislodge some of the rocks. Tacio responded with a combo of kicks and punches, all of which were either parried or dodged. After about two minutes of back and forth, the humanoid ducked ato evade a roundhouse kick, just barely dodging Tacio’s hoof by a hair. It then gripped its shovel tightly and placed all its strength into that one swing, hitting rock armor in the torso area.


    Though the hit barely even dented the rocks, a shockwave permeated from the hit, sending the tikbalang flying a few feet back and creating a baseball-sized hole on the rock armor, exposing his chest.


    “No mistaking it…” the tikbalang said as he used his magic to pick up the soil around him. “... This is distortion magic!”


    Tacio then manipulated the soil to cover the hole in his armor while using the rest to create an external revolving barrier around him. The humanoid’s revolver then left its holster and began firing at the tikbalang while the hostile ran in the opposite direction, occasionally jumping forward to swing its shovel once before jumping back and running in the same direction. The rifle, on the other hand, was also independently firing upon the tikbalang from behind.


    The mystic was undeterred despite being unable to land a blow and being hit with several pot shots. Under the backdrop of a cloudless red sky, he leapt from his position and with his right hoof forward, he descended to the earth with increasing speed. The humanoid jumped out of the way as the tikbalang landed hard on the ground, creating a small crater in the process.


    Not allowing its opponent to recover, the humanoid immediately closed the distance and swung its shovel. Though it hit its mark, the resulting magical shockwave was mitigated by the soil barrier, causing it to disperse, cover the humanoid’s eyes with dirt, and envelope a small area with topsoil.


    Its eyes temporarily covered, the tikbalang quickly turned around for a punch to which the humanoid instinctively raised its arms to protect its head as the punch landed on them. Tacio continued his flurry of punches while his opponent covered its face like a boxer on the defensive though it refused to be brought down by its adversary. Seeing this, Tacio ended his combo with a front kick which his opponent promptly blocked with its arms, causing it to skid back.


    Honestly, this fight was a splendid display of tactics. Both used the best of their arsenal to gain the advantage though it seemed like their constant exchange of blows had started to tire them out as I observed that both are now, once again, embroiled in a staring contest while deeply catching their breaths.


    And quite the apt timing too as command had finally returned with some good news. “T-1. This is Rosetta. Standing by to support.”


    “Solid copy, Rosetta! I need the Russian word for friend!”


    “Друг.” the Russian interpreter answered.


    With the confirmation, Tacio suddenly started repeatedly shouting; “Друг! Друг!”


    Surprised and without a word, the humanoid maintained its guard, tightly gripping its shovel.


    “Друг…” Tacio said again, this time with his hands halfway up.


    Shovel still raised, rifle aimed directly at Tacio’s head, and the revolver floating nearby, the humanoid responded though Tacio couldn’t understand a single word.


    “Rosetta. What’s it saying?”


    “It doesn’t believe you. It said that you attacked first.”


    “How do I tell him that I’m here to save civilians?”


    “Can you repeat what I am about to say?”


    “I’ll try!”


    “Мы здесь, чтобы спасать людей. Мы не желаем им зла.”


    Judging from that look on his face, I doubt he comprehended what he heard. And my suspicions were confirmed when he fumbled the first few syllables. Of course, his adversary was confused to hear such gibberish exit this mystic’s mouth..


    “R-Rosetta...” Tacio said with a hint of embarrassment. “I don’t think I can do complete sentences. Simple words please. Give me the Russian word for rescue!”


    “Спасение”


    The tikbalang then pointed at the unconscious girl. “Спасение. Спасение.”


    The humanoid made a quick glance at the unconscious woman before turning its attention back to the tikbalang.


    I like this mystic. Most casters would ditch diplomacy altogether and fight this clearly infected individual until death. And yet for the second time, it seemed that this tikbalang was willing to skirt around the rules and attempt diplomacy when he saw that there was even a small chance for one. Adaptability and flexibility are quite the virtues indeed. Virtues that Kaede lacked though I have no right to judge her though especially since I kind of understand her… stiffness.


    Speaking of Kaede, the trio, by this time, were now just carefully trekking through the woods, no longer pursued by the horde. That little side trip she begrudgingly accepted took them to a two-storey derelict Neo-Georgian building  in the middle of a clearing. Apart from the vines creeping into the structure, it looked like it was only abandoned recently with the structure itself still more or less intact.


    “This is where your gut feeling is taking ya?” Nathan asked, looking at around.


    Luna closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Y-Yeah…  Inside the building…”


    “Inside?” Kaede said with a hint of annoyance. “What are you sensing?”


    “I-I’m not sure… I can only tell that there’s four of them and they have the same feeling I get with you, Nathan, and that tikbalang…”


    Nathan walked closer to the front double door. “Should we head inside, then?”


    The woman immediately frowned before approaching the young man. “Recklessness will get you killed. Besides, we do not know what exactly is in there.”


    “But Luna said that they’re giving off friendly vibes.”


    “First off, you both are late bloomers and just awakened to your magical capabilities so neither of you have any authority on the accuracy of your powers. Second, even if I were to believe in the accuracy of your clairvoyance, we can not just enter an unknown building with no plan!”


    Nathan sighed. “For someone who has a literal cold aura around her and has ice magic, you really have no chill.”


    Incensed, Kaede frowned, crossed her arms, and tapped her right foot a couple of times. “There is an appropriate time to be ‘chill’! You are in no position to lecture me on how to properly approach a situation such as this, especially considering you know nothing about how our world works!”


    “You may have a point but seems to me that you’re also not too familiar with… field work?”


    I wonder if he had a sudden surge of bravado upon discovering his latent powers as his response involved raising his hands above his head and hanging his head low in what could also be interpreted as a bow.


    “Do not think I do not see your attempt at provoking me.” the woman replied, conjuring ice daggers between her fingers before approaching the door . “Besides, I did not say we will not enter. Given the situation, inside may be much safer than outside.”


    Despite her first impression, the woman seemed to demonstrate some level of restraint though I did notice her hands shaking for a moment there. A little more force and her fingers would be digging through her palm.


    A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    “Ensure you have a fireball at the ready.” Kaede said as she slowly opened the door.She took a few slow steps forward, her eyes focusing on the two doors on each side of the room, the staircase in the center of the room, and the small balcony-esque area at the top of the stairs . With a fireball in hand, Nathan followed close behind and while Kaede was laser-focused on the doors and the second floor, Nathan’s eyes, untrained and filled with curiosity, wandered throughout the room, seemingly enamored by the building’s Neo-Georgian design.


    Luna’s attention, on the other hand, was focused towards what looked like a reception table, specifically the lone typewriter sitting on top. Given how old the architecture was and its seemingly abandoned state, one would expect to see aging furniture slowly deteriorating as time went on but this particular typewriter did not have a single blot of rust on it, in fact it looked like it was recently cleaned.


    Now that she noticed it, there wasn’t a speck of dirt anywhere nor was there any misplaced object in this room. Compared to that village, this building is immaculate in terms of cleanliness if you ignore the clearly aging concrete and the vines wrapping around the building outside.


    The vines and the architecture showing its age notwithstanding, everything else looked well-maintained though there wasn’t a soul in sight but Luna could definitely sense at least four signatures inside this building though she doesn’t know specifically where they are.


    Funny though that only Luna managed to connect the dots here and the seemingly trained Kaede was too focused on her task that she neglected this important detail. I was hoping she would tell the two of her observations but I guess she was either intimidated by Kaede’s rather brash behavior or was just shy to express herself given the nonexistent hierarchy of experience that she may have thought had existed between her and Kaede.


    With the entrance area cleared, the brash woman guided the two towards the leftmost door on the first floor, which was engraved with a medieval knight wielding a kite shield but no weapon on the door itself. Ever cautious, Kaede opened that door while holding several ice daggers close to her face.


    Judging from the small pen area filled with a few straw dolls, whipping tops, and various wooden toys as well as a few benches outside said pen area, I’m guessing this was a children’s playroom. Just like with the previous room, Luna noticed how clean and orderly everything was and, once again, she was too timid to even express this clearly notable observation.


    In the far lower left corner of the room, she noticed a small table with four bowls and a pot sitting on top. Though the trio were quite the distance away from the corner, Luna could see that the bowls and pot were filled with something but she was too far away to make out what she was seeing.


    I must admit it was kind of excruciating to watch all that unfold especially considering that Luna’s observations could make a lot of difference in their current circumstances. Nevertheless, I already intervened enough. These mortals must learn to fend for themselves. ‘Teach a man to fish instead of giving him fish’ as they say.


    “Really eerie…” Nathan said, scanning around the room while oddly not realizing how unusually neat it is. “... I’m getting a sense of deja vu like I’ve seen this play out somewhere before…”


    “I doubt you have clairvoyance.” Kaede replied. “Stay focused. There is-”


    In an instant, our little trained agent cut herself mid-sentence before throwing her ice daggers towards the partially opened door to their top right. “Contact!”


    “What?!” Nathan and Luna said synchronously as Kaede bolted towards said door, opening it with such force that it slammed hard on the wall.


    The door slamming seemed to have woken Nathan from his shock as he grabbed Luna by her arm and proceeded to run after Kaede. “Oi! Wait for us!”


    Well… She’s not unobservant but it seemed she either lacked attention to detail or an out-of-the-box mentality to notice what an untrained and ‘newly awakened late bloomer’ saw. At the very least, when it came to being alert for potential threats, Kaede displayed enough perception.


    And ever the trained hunter, Kaede tracked down her target down within seconds though the barely candle-lit somewhat long hallway could only show her as an approximately three to four foot tall figure running away to the end of said hallway.


    Without a moment’s hesitation, the woman threw another set of daggers though given the figure’s pace had not changed, she probably missed. Given how low the lighting was and her lack of specialized equipment, I didn’t judge her for missing… much despite the training I assume she underwent.


    At the same time, the two finally caught up with our intrepid hunter and finally laying her eyes upon the figure, Luna sensed that this figure was one of the four signatures she was detecting. “That thing…!”


    “What about it?” Nathan asked as Kaede threw another set of daggers, this time seemingly hitting the figure’s leg as it began to hobble.


    “Wait! Kaede!” the young woman shouted. “It’s not dangerous! It’s one of the things I was sensing earlier!”


    Kaede, still in hot pursuit of her target, let out a clearly annoyed sigh, complete with her eyes closing for a good second. “I can not take a single break today…”


    Unobservant and very by-the-books she may be, Kaede is, at the very least, pragmatic. She immediately relented her assault on her target though if she continued, it would have been overkill since she was already closing the distance rather quickly. That is what I would have said had another three to four foot figure with feathered wings emerged from the end of the hallway.


    Once again, the candle light barely illuminated any of this other figure’s identifying features. It screamed something in Russian before the tables and picture frames in the hallway all flung themselves at Kaede.


    Of course, she masterfully dodged each projectile, looking like some kind of gymnast in the process. Luna and Nathan, on the other hand, hit the deck without a moment’s hesitation, opting to stay prone until the onslaught ended.


    Even with the addition of a sudden gust of conjured wind, which I presumed came from the figure Kaede injured, only served to delay the woman momentarily though it seemed to be enough time for the two figures to escape to the room on the left of the hallway and with their exit, the projectiles stopped flying and all fell to the floor. She wasted no time though in preparing to breach that door which wasn’t locked for some reason.


    Conjuring an icicle wakizashi, Kaede slowly opened the door and was immediately greeted with a projectile vase flying towards her. She instinctively closed the door, hearing the sound of the vase breaking as it hit the door. In response, she brought out a cylindrical grenade from her pouch.


    “Is that what I think it is?” Nathan said as he and Luna positioned themselves behind the woman.


    Kaede then pulled the pin while firmly grasping the grenade on her hand. “I only managed to see part of the room but it seems that there is no other way out. I will throw a flash grenade inside and we breach the room while they are disoriented.”


    “Got it.” the young man replied, conjuring a fireball. “Ready when you are!”


    Although it was the most tactically sound strategy at the time, especially given their current circumstances, I would wager that a flash grenade would have quite the adverse effect on the four figures inside that room and, once again, my covenant demanded I not interfere.


    Of course, it would be better to let things play out and allow these players to see the consequences of their actions but said consequences did not sit right with me… Luckily, I found yet another loophole and it was quite the serendipity too as this loophole should aid in the growth of these players and with a snap of my finger, the original four ‘non-hostile lifesigns’ she has been detecting just got… smaller.


    It truly warmed my heart to see that there was at least one perceptive individual among them as Luna’s reaction to my non-covenant breaking meddling was immediate. “G-Guys! Wait!”


    Nathan turned around while Kaede let out a clearly annoyed sigh. “Huh? What’s up, Luna?”


    “Please tell me you are not about to say something that will interrupt our current plan…”


    “W-Well… I-I’m sorry, Kaede but… Those four things I’m sensing are behind that room.”


    “And? A flash grenade will only disorient them. It is our means to secure the targets.”


    “U-Um… M-My… Uh… clairvoyance? It’s telling me that the four in that room are all children…”


    “Are you certain? You just awoken to your clairvoyance, not to mention that you lack training in comprehending your new senses. If you are mistaken, we will be faced with four unknowns in close quarters combat.”


    You know, ‘Ice Queen’ truly describes who Kaede is. I have seen many by-the-books types but I admittedly have yet to see these types encounter a dissenting opinion from someone with… ‘lower credentials’ so to speak. And, of course, I wasn’t surprised when Kaede’s eyebrows twitched to a frown for a good second the moment she heard ‘children’. I wonder if Luna noticed that twitch?


    Speaking of her, perceptive as she was, I was quite disappointed that she was timid in her response to Kaede. “W-Well… I-I don’t know why I can tell but I… I just can tell they’re all kids! I don’t think we should use a flash grenade on little kids!”


    “Kaede.” Nathan interjected. “Luna’s inexperienced yes but so far, the things she said hasn’t led us to fuck up yet. So I say we should give her a chance.”


    “Both of you are truly making this mission unnecessarily difficult… What do you suggest we do, then? Open our arms and hope the ‘children’ do not attack us?”


    Nathan pondered for a moment. “Yes, actually.”


    “Are you being serious?”


    “I am serious. We need to look as unthreatening as possible. That way, we can diffuse the situation.”


    “That is an idiotic plan. You expect nothing to happen especially if you let your guard down?”


    “Situation’s changed. I don’t know if your organization follows the Geneva Convention but harming kids is kind of bad, right?”


    “This is different. We are inside an Oizite Domain! You normals do not know it however these places are filled with monsters that will use whatever tactics to trick victims into a false sense of security. Besides, even if they are just children, a flash grenade will only deafen and blind them for a moment. It will not have any adverse effects.”


    “Does the concept of ‘excessive force’ mean anything to you? Actually… Aren’t you some kind of trained magician or something? You weren’t trained to improvise and adapt to situations changing? Is your training regiment so boneheadedly stiff that you shrivel at anything that deviates from your books?”


    “H-How dare you insult my pride as a spellcaster! I have trained in the art and wisdom of spell combat since my childhood! I am knowledgeable in over several different combat situations! You are nothing more than a normal who just awakened to their magical abilities! What do you know?!”


    “How old are you?”


    Luna immediately pulled Nathan by the collar of his shirt. “Nathan! You don’t ask that!”


    “It’s a legit question! So, Kaede. How many years wise are you?”


    Kaede frowned, crossed her arms, and, to my amazement, she actually went along with it. “20”


    “Holy shit!” Nathan shouted for a moment before lowering his volume. “You’re younger than me? It’s not so obvious with how you look. I wonder at what age do you people start going out on battlefields like-”


    “Nathan!” Luna reprimanded with a light smack on the back of Nathan’s head. “You’re going too far!”


    This young man is quite bold to be this ridiculously rude to Kaede. Her ‘Ice Queen’ persona notwithstanding, he was really teetering quite the thin line to, and I’m assuming, provoke Kaede to go along with their plans or I could be wrong and he is simply too blunt for his own good.


    “Ow!  Anyway… man… Look. Luna’s gut feeling hasn’t failed us yet so I’d rather be safe than escalate the situation even further than it needs to be. So how about you exercise a bit of that knowledge you’re so proud of, learn to improvise, and deviate a bit from the norm?”


    “I refuse to hear from this nonsense any further!”


    Nathan grabbed Kaede’s arm. To his surprise, her arm was very cold, almost as if she had no body heat at all. “Holy hell you’re cold… Whatever! Look! Luna’s gut feeling hasn’t put us in trouble yet. So please listen and, at least, consider something with less force.”


    “You are suggesting something that will place our lives under unnecessary risk.”


    “But it’s the only alternative we got other than using a flashbang on kids besides, and I’ll keep saying this, Luna hasn’t been wrong with her gut feelings yet so you have no basis to doubt what she’s sensing.”


    To be fair, given what they knew, the young man was correct. He was rude and blunt about his arguments but at the end of it all, he did have a point. And judging from Kaede’s grumbling, continued downward movement of her eyebrow, and momentarily biting her lip, she seemed to see his point as well.


    “... I will entertain your idea for a moment” she said, looking away for a moment before turning back to the young man. “Say that we enter that room with our hands up and attempt a dialogue with them, how do we communicate without receiving so much as a scratch?”


    “Well I won’t guarantee that we won’t get hurt but Luna is gonna try talking to them.”


    “Me?” Luna responded, placing her right hand over her chest.


    “Yes you.” Nathan replied, turning to her. “You’re the one with the hunch and you’re much better with kids than me and, probably, Kaede over there.”


    “And then what?” Kaede interjected. “Hope they understand our intentions and lower their guard towards people they do not know, let alone trust?”


    Nathan turned to the woman with crossed arms. “And you think blinding and deafening them before dropping them to the ground is gonna earn their trust in seconds?”


    Kaede didn’t respond as Nathan continued. “There are four kids in there. You think the three of us can keep them subdued? Who’s gonna send backup? Command? How are we gonna transport four subdued people through an area crawling with those things?”


    A sound argument I must say. Nathan proved to be much more perceptive than I thought though his perception doesn’t seem to include the sense of sight. Though Kaede’s clearly annoyed expression told me that she wasn’t about to let this ‘normal’ upstage her.


    “You were not against this plan beforehand.” she said. “Had it been four adults, you would have been willing to risk transporting them without support from Command.”


    “Yes.” Nathan answered nonchalantly. “Because one: adults are a bit more resilient than kids and two: once we explain things and we’re on the same page, they can help with defending against those things while we make our way out.”


    “You were planning to negotiate with them from the beginning?”


    “Of course! We may not be some super secret magic agent or something but Luna said from the beginning that they were friendly so I knew we had to talk to them somehow.”


    “Unbelievable…”


    “Not everything can be neatly planned out in a book! So do you see it now? How much more trouble we’ll be in if we went with your plan?”


    Kaede closed her eyes for a moment and took a very deep breath before slowly exhaling. “...Fine. We will proceed with your plan.”


    “Nice!”


    “However! If anything goes wrong, we WILL proceed with MY way!”


    “Sure. Whatever.” Nathan said while rolling his eyes. “Luna? You ready?”


    Luna’s eyes widened for a moment. “U-Uh… Y-Yeah!”


    “Don’t worry. We have your back!”


    “R-Right! Thanks!”