Ashito continued following Akane as she sprinted in a clear direction.
There was no hesitation in her movements and she moved as fast as lightning.
It was clear to Ashito, that if you would get in her way in her current state, she would cut you down and keep running to her target place.
And that was how it was. Guards who saw the bloody and holding a knife Akane, stepped in her way, but as a result were cut down. Nothing was going to stop her now.
'What is going on with her?' Ashito thought as he saw Akane smiling menacingly while taking out several guards in a few seconds, with her magic and blade, 'I know she doesn't like the people from Serfama, but to hate the people of your homeland so much is... insane.'
Akane with her incredible speed precise attacks didn't even need to stop at the sight of the guards, so getting to the market took little time.
As soon as Ashito and Akane arrived at the market they were greeted by the horrible sight of the three knights that had grouped together destroying the market, stealing the loot and attacking nearby villagers.
Ashito looked horrified at the sight. When he turned to look at Akane, he saw that her expression had gone blank. Then suddenly her before dark red eyes started to shine a bright red and her face morphed into a twisted, strained smile.
Moments after Akane began rushing at the closest knight - The one destroying the market.
The knight looked at Akane in surprise of her rushing to attack him.
"Akane what do you think you're doing? You may think you can do whatever you want because you're the princess, but you still have to follow the Kings orde-"
The knight had began talking to Akane but before he could even notice Akane had stabbed him in the heart, blood splattering on Akane. The assassination was in fact so fast, that the knight did not make a single sound upon being stabbed.
Akane slid the blade out of the now dead knight as he slid to the ground. As soon as the first knight was eliminated, she turned to the second knight. But to her surprise, this time, the second - weapon looting knight, had made the first move and began rushing at her, with his sword in the air.
Akane seeing the running knight did no more than simply smirk.
'I got her now!" the rushing knight thought, as he got closer and closer to the rogue princess.
The knight was sure of his success. But as he would soon find out he was incorrect. As the knight got within striking distance he began to swing the sword, only for it to be repulsed by some invisible shield.
"Come on, Kade. We did battle training together in Serfama," Akane said, this time addressing the knight by his name, "you should have known I would never go into battle without my charm."
After Akane finished she grabbed the necklace she was wearing, that Ashito had noticed before.
"That necklace, huh. I did know that, but I didn't know it had any magical attributes to it. I just assumed it was a lucky charm or something like that."
"Well as you see I've gone rogue. Ever since my mom left, when I was 10 "Human Years", I've always planned to leave Serfama too, so I never told anyone."
'Human... years... Isn't she... human?' Ashito thought after Akane's statement.
"But now I am leaving," Akane continued, " and I'm finally going to use it."
Akane done with her monologue, the knight less than a meter from here, was now the one in the striking distance.
And with that it was Akane's turn to strike. But instead of using her sharp blade to cut the knight down she opened her palm as a bright red light appeared in it, after a few moments turning it into a flame. 'Magic' Ashito thought. And indeed it was. After the flame had appeared, Akane took a throwing stance and throw the fire at the knight. The dark knight watched as the flame flew through the sky and landed on his head, setting his entire body on fire.
- Aaaaaaaaaaargh!
The knight screamed in agony of the burning.
The knight who had been watching from behind - the knight who was attacking the townsfolk, grabbed a red crystal from his pouch and raised it in the air.
"Shit! Don't you use that!" Akane screamed in anger and leaped at the knight holding the crystal, with her knife first.
But this knight, the first one who did, dogged and a moment later from the red crystal shot out a bright red beam, being visible as far as the eye could see.
"Were gonna have some company. I guess this will make eliminating the other guards easier." Akane said after falling to the ground and quickly jumping back up.
When Akane finished her sentence Ashito realised what the crystal was - a rescue beacon. The bright read beam was to alert the other knights of they're location. It was essentially calling for backup in a world with magic and not walkie-talkies.
Now with they're location revealed Akane's main goal was to eliminate the last knight there, before the other knights could come.
Because of that a battle ensued.
This time Akane was the first to attack. Akane lifted her blade attempting to strike the knight, but him blocking it with he's own blade, throwing her away.
When Akane recovered she went low and once again attempted to strike the knight.
When she got within two meter of him, she leaped at the knight striking the side of the knights helmet, throwing it off.
Now the knights face was revealed. He had a thin beard, dark brown eyes, a small, but deep scar on his left cheek and short black hair.
"You have a scar, huh? I'm gonna make it two."
"Try me."
And try him she did. Akane once again rushed against the exposed knight. She once again leaped two meters from him.
The knight knowing what would happen next. Put his sword in from of his face to block the incoming attack.
But it turned out he did not predict correctly, because when it looked like Akane was aiming for the face, she was misleading the knight on purpose. Her real plan was to jump, acting like she was going for the face, but less than a meter away she would fall to the ground and strike the leg of the knight. And so she did.
Rolling behind the guard, Akane once again smirked.
It once again looked like nothing had happened, but Ashito knew otherwise, as the seemingly undamaged foot started to bleed, due to the deep cut on the side. The knight fell to the ground, unable to move.
'She went easy on him, huh.' Ashito thought as he watched from the side, 'I wonder why...'
With the three knights defeated Akane could finally relax. But this moment of calm ended soon, due to four knights quickly approaching her and Ashito.
"Of course." Akane said as she looked dissatisfied with the new appearances.
Stage two, in the battle against the knights was about to begin.