The haven's fires burned bright against the baron's looming threat. On the newly fortified eastern perimeter, a silence as sharp as a honed blade hung in the air. Valerius, Lyra, and Kael stood ready, their hearts pounding in rhythm with the cool, morning wind. They had made their vow of defiance, and now it was time for the First Haven to prove its teeth. The faint glow of a rising sun painted the horizon a bruised violet, but on the eastern path, the gloom was still a tangible presence.
A distant sound, the crisp crunch of marching boots on gravel, cut through the quiet. The C-tier detachment was arriving, overconfident and expecting a frightened, defenseless village. They were a small, disciplined force, but their leader, a grizzled veteran with a minor wind-type ability, radiated the chilling arrogance of the Baron's elite. He was a predator, and his prey was Valerius's home.
As the detachment drew closer, Lyra, already in her hybrid badger form, moved. She was the bait. Low to the ground, a blur of dark fur and amber eyes, she scrambled out from behind the newly constructed ramparts and let out a series of low, guttural growls. The sound was a challenge, a primal invitation to a fight. One of the scouts, a foolish D-tier with a minor enhanced-speed ability, took the bait. He darted away from the main group, eager to prove himself by taking down a "cursed beast." The moment he was isolated, Lyra was on him, her form a whirlwind of claws and teeth. The scout didn't even have time to scream before she snatched him and vanished back into the woods, dragging him from the line of sight.
The C-tier leader roared in rage, but before he could organize a pursuit, Kael moved. Plunging his massive hands into the earth, he unleashed the full force of his Stone Stone Fruit. The ground itself rebelled. A thick, uneven wall of stone, jagged and unyielding, erupted from the earth directly in front of the detachment. It was not a perfectly crafted rampart like the ones they had built, but a raw, brutal barrier of broken rock and compacted soil, designed for a single purpose: to split the enemy force and sow chaos. The front line was forced to scatter, their disciplined ranks shattering in the face of Kael's geological might.
Chaos erupted as they tried to regroup. But from within the confusion, a new threat emerged. A monstrous D-tier beast, a massive bramble serpent with a hide as tough as woven wood, and spines as sharp as daggers, slithered from the chaos, having been lured by the sound of battle. It was a local predator, a nightmare for F-tier villagers, and now it saw the disoriented C-tier soldiers as easy prey. The snake began to coil, its venomous fangs dripping, before it lunged towards the C-tier leader.
Valerius, seeing the opportunity, moved with a purpose. He didn't waste time on a clash of physical blows. His body shimmered with the faint, purple-black energy of his Empty Empty Fruit. He phased through the chaos of the C-tier guards, his form intangible, a ghost among the panicked men. He appeared directly behind the bramble serpent, his hand, coated in Armament Haki, clamping down on the beast's head. With a grim resolve, he used his devour ability, a quick, silent, and brutal act. The bramble serpent writhed for a moment, its form flickering as the void consumed it, leaving no trace. A single, powerful pulse of D-tier energy coursed through Valerius's consciousness, and in the canopy of the mind-tree, a shimmering, vibrant egg-shaped fruit with a bright, feathered pattern materialized. It was a Rare Zoan fruit.
The C-tier leader, having narrowly avoided the serpent's fangs, watched in stunned horror. He had seen his scout disappear and a giant wall of earth rise, and now he had just witnessed a monster vanish into thin air. Fear, cold and absolute, replaced his arrogance. He didn't know what kind of power this was, but he knew it was beyond anything the Baron had ever faced.
Then, a fresh wave of horror hit him as he saw a young recruit, one of the D-tier villagers who was brave enough to stand with them, get hit by a stray arrow. It pierced his shoulder, and the recruit fell to the ground, bleeding profusely, the wound looking fatal. But before the leader could savor the sight, a woman with gentle hands, Mina, rushed to the fallen recruit. She knelt beside him, and a single, glistening tear fell from her eye onto his wound. The wound shimmered and mended itself perfectly within seconds. The recruit, who was on the verge of death, was back to full health.
The C-tier leader's eyes, fixed on the miraculous healing, widened in disbelief. This was no simple village. This was a haven of monsters, of impossible powers that defied the laws of the world. With a guttural shout, he ordered his remaining men to pull back. The skirmish was over. They had won.
Valerius, Lyra, Kael, and Mina stood in the aftermath, the sun now fully risen, painting a clear picture of their victory. They had fought, and they had stood firm. They had proven their vow.
Steel rang against stone as dawn broke.