“Why is Kaima attacking? We’ve done nothing wrong!”
The shouting naga monk fled, just as the boar-shaped spirit in question trampled another nearby house. Even with Kaima on the warpath through the peaceful village, the monk still barged into one of the few intact buildings, and slithered to a stop amid an indoor shrine.
“Hama! It’s time to leave!”
“One moment, Mister Shigeki!” a cheerful, elderly voice replied from the back. “I’m just finishing up these last few-”
But before Hama could even appear, Kaima burst through the front door, and wall as well. Part of the roof collapsed, narrowly avoiding both Shigeki and the shrine. There it stood, fury glowing in its eyes, and the veins of light that crisscrossed its body.
“Hama…” Shigeki pulled a blade from his robes. “Never mind. Stay back there.”
But it was too late. A second, more elderly naga appeared from the back room. She regarded Kaima not with fear, but merely surprise.
“Oh! Kaima. What an unexpected surprise. Have we disturbed nature somehow…”
Kaima took one thunderous step closer.
“…in our very small, very self-sustaining village? Where spirit and mortal realms merge?”
“Well, of course! Surely we are worse than the megacities! Worse than the corporations and their factories!”
To Shigeki’s utmost surprise, Kaima took an awkward step backward.
“Unless, of course, you were…merely looking for an easy rampage?”
Kaima shook its head, before quickly retreating through the hole it had made. This left Shigeki staring at his elder in disbelief, and earning a knowing smirk for his trouble.
“What was that?” hissed the younger monk.
“It was…an unfortunate truth,” Hama sighed, tiredly. “Modern methods of fighting have become so good, as to repel the spirits themselves. So, the reckonings don’t happen where they are needed.”
“They happen out here. Where they can at least get a few licks in,” Shigeki gasped in realization.
“They too get frustrated at the state of the world. And so they lash out…”
[I know the hallmark of nature spirits is to lash out whenever there’s a disturbance. But given the cyberpunk setting for NEO, I doubt that that more traditional village in Kaima’s art is anywhere near the worst offender! Also, goading doesn’t really work on mana dorks!]
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