The smoke started to settle. Eleanor had threw up a pillar of earth to protect the clubhouse. A pillar that was now mostly destroyed and crumbling.
Schera had grabbed Austin and shielded him from the shockwaves. She held him tight in her arm.
Both girls eyes were sizzling red and and held a killer intensity. Eleanor looked back to Austin who was still looking up still motionlessly stiff but looked otherwise unharmed.
She bared her fangs. Slowly a woman approached them wearing a Gothic maid outfit. A jester mask covered her face. Her long dark hair looked sleek and shined like the moon. In her hands was a tachi.
"I don't know who you are, but I'm going to rip out your heart." Eleanor snarled.
The woman said nothing just dashed forward. She was quick. Really quick. Eleanor created bolts of lighting and launched them at the the woman. But she was skilled.
She avoided the attacks with precision. Like a seasoned gymnast, she utilized tumbling techniques like layouts, half twist, full twist, and even advanced skills like double layout full in full outs.
She even combined them with sword skills as she quickly danced closer to the group. The woman got mere inches for attacking Eleanor before she retreated back. She just narrowly avoided being stabbed by Schera's lance.
Schera was brimming with power as she handed Austin to Eleanor. "She is fast and skilled. You're at a disadvantage."
Schera rushed forward her lance leading the charge. The woman twisted on her toes, side stepping the attack. Schera adjusted. Spinning the lance like an expert she unleashed several attacks with quick succession putting the woman on her back foot.
The two danced like it was all choreographed. Schera was on the offensive and the woman was strictly defense.
Schera was astounded by how light she felt. She was using the amount of force she would normally use to rout an enemy without killing yet she could feel that this was barely over a fraction of the power she felt after feeding on Austin just twice.
The woman seized the opportunity to go on the offensive. Her ferocity took Schera by surprise. Positions immediately reversed and now Schera was on her back foot.
Schera blocked and parried attack after attack. Weaved strike after strike as the woman flipped and twisted as she delivered blow after blow.
Schera shifted up a few gears and the two traded blows together. Schera parried and countered and the woman countered and parried.
It looked pretty even as they both began to show evidence of wear and tear on their clothing. But something was bothering Schera. Though it looked like they were even, the women had no wounds from the exchange while Schera herself had several small flesh wounds here and there. It was like she was purposely allowing some attacks through but didn't want her body scratched.
And the wounds on Schera's body weren't healing as fast as they should. This woman was undoubtedly a hunter. But what was a hunter doing here? They hadn't caused any disturbances worth popping up on a hunter's radar.
Schera spoke. "What do you what hunter?"
The woman stopped walking. "I follow the will of my Master. I hunt monsters. You are a monster. So I must hunt."
"We have no animosity to hunters nor humans. So why attack us?"
The woman paused. "My Master wishes to destory the princess of vampyres that is said to resides here."
Schera's eyes burned even brighter. "You dare?"
"It is my master's will."
"Who is this master?"
The hunter paused again. "His name is Yasir. And he has ordered the princess' death.
Schera exploded with rage and rushed the woman with all her might. She was barely able to avoid death. The woman evaded but still received a minor cut up her thigh.
The woman stood motionless feet away. An unearthly aura pooled around her then she exploded forward. Schera knew in that moment the woman had been toying with them the whole time and the sudden wound the woman received pissed her off.
The woman blade spelled death for Schera. She knew it in her soul and she knew she wasn't fast enough nor strong enough to escape that fate. But as hunter's sword came within range to cleave her a loud animalistic roar came from behind her and a hand came and grabbed the blade.
It was coated in a thick silver aura. It was Austin. His eyes were a majestic silver and he seemed to be in a trance like state. His grip firmly on the blade of the woman's sword, he swung it around and tossed her aside.
She landed perfectly then looked to were he had been. Nothing was there. It was only at the last minute she noticed he was beside her. She braced herself for impact as he swatted her away. She skipped across the earth several times before correcting her center and digging into the earth.
The she jumped up in to the sky and landed well away from the area just as Austin arrived where she had been. She sheathed her blade and took a iaijutsu stance. But he was gone.
She looked to her left and Austin was already there attacking like a wild beast. She released her scabbard and braced as she was sent skipping across the ground again. She hadn't expected him to be so strong and fast. He was leagues above the two she had just faced off against. She was at disadvantage as her orders didn't allow for his death.
She adjusted her footing but he was already there. He bounced here around several times not allowing her to regain composure. She turned up the pressure and unleashed an attack from iaijutsu.
Austin caught the blade in hand once again. Then shattered it.
The woman jumped back surprised. "Unexpected."
Austin stalked forward but with each stepped his aura lost vigor until he fell to his knees. Schera and Eleanor saw this and went to protect him by attacking to draw aggro.
The woman responded quickly and fired a beam a color that could only be described as blue nothingness. It collided with them. They were rag dolled to where Austin, who was now unconscious, was laying.
What ever hit them hurt them bad. They had burns and frostbite across the limbs. The areas where they had blocked the attack no longer existed. Both arms and some of the flesh from their torsos were gone. To make it worse, those wounds refused to immediately heal.
"Kill us...if you must..." Schera's voice was weakened from the last attack she received. "But if you kill him, your own fate will be sealed. My Princess..."
"...Is my target. And she will be easier to deal with if she is enraged." The woman interrupted Schera. And just as she was about to bring her blade down another voice was heard.
"You wanted a princess huh?"
A flash streaked through the air. The woman reacted on an entirely different level than she had previously shown. She raised her blade just as a silver lance impacted with it.
Schera's eyes widen. "M-master Bridget?"
Bridget had a smirk on her face but never took her blood tinted eyes off the woman as she pressured her with one hand.
"What is 'dis sad display my apprentice? Have ya' grown so weak from your time in da' realm of humans?"
The woman finally forced Bridget's lance up. Bridget swung again. The woman parried and slipped it then Bridget attacked once more. The woman blocked but couldn't slip it. Bridget had her pinned again.
"Austin!?" By now Cereza had rushed to Austin's side
"Cereza?" Eleanor weakly called out. "Is he ok?"
Cereza stood up after check his vitals. "He is still breathing."
"Hm. So 'dis is him eh?" Bridget was suddenly standing by Cereza's side.
Cereza looked back to the woman who was facing off against Bridget's lance. A lance that now seemed like it had sentience of its own.
Cereza's eyes that were already a deep red seemed to turn an even sharper red as she bared her fangs. "I will pay you back a thousand fold for what you did to him."
The air around her seemed to grow darker as she raised her hand to the sky. Without indication a blue flame rose from her hand and created a ball above her. She threw it.
The woman continued to battle Bridget's lance. She swatted it away to create distance before slicing Cereza's attack to ribbons.
Cereza's face contorted. Bridget tapped her on the shoulders. "Leave 'dis one ta' me. I haven't stretched my legs in a while."
Bridget cracked her knuckles then ran straight towards the woman, grabbing her lance. The woman held out a hand and a blast of blackened blue shot forward. This time it crackled with black lightening.
Bridget's instincts told her she shouldn't try to tank this attack. She stopped on a dime and drove the bottom of her lance into the ground. A pillar of earth leagues larger and sturdier than Eleanor erupted and took the full impact of the attack.
When the smoke cleared the woman was gone.