"I...really hate Mother Nature now..."
Ashen mutters in displeasure as he walked towards a ruined building.
"Why do I have to do this shit for other people? Oi! Nitwit! Get away from there before I make you!"
His face contorted into one filled with sheer vexation, calls out to Rosseweisse who was assisting some of the knights who were carrying away the wounded and threateningly urged her to get out of the way.
"Eh? But the knights-"
"You are so damned annoying.", in an exasperated tone, he strikes a piece of rock with his sword(rather, the sword he grabbed from Bartholo while they were on the ship.) and sends it flying towards Rosseweisse who for some reason, was only hit by a small pebble.
'Wha-', Ashen's brows twitched. He was sure he sent a rock almost as big as his palm at Rosseweisse. How did it turn into a pebble when it reached her?
A question that was quickly answered by a faint gust of wind that shouldn't have come.
'Tsk! Damned over-protective planet!'
Clicking his tongue in annoyance, he then takes stock of his surroundings instead;
Considering that the spot he dropped into was just a few dozen meters from Lambeth Bridge, then the River Thames should be quite close to them. Meaning, the railings over-looking the other side of the bridge means that the place they were in now was little bit beyond enemy lines.
'Not too much of an advance. However-'
He then looks at the decimated enemies that lay wasted on the ground.
'Quite the number of enemies. Did they send the bulk of their forces here? Was the Brynhildr here or something?'
Thinking so, he takes another glance of his surroundings however, he saw no one that would fit the description of Brynhildr. There was only the retreating knights and his acquaintance, Guinnevere who looked at him incredulously.
"Hmph. I have lots to say to that Brynhildr woman once this is all over. Letting things progress to this point is just plain stupid."
A loud rumble resounded from the ruined building before him.
'I guess you can't expect knocking 'that' monstrosity out and expect it to stay asleep for as long as I want huh?'
With another click of his tongue, he stabs his sword on the ground then approaches Rosseweisse briskly. As soon as he was before her, he grabbed her by the collar, raised her up before finally throwing her over into the River Thames much to the horror of every knight who was evacuating the area.
"Eh?! Lady! Oi lad! Why'd you do tha-!"
"Shut up and get in as well!"
Not wanting to hear the knights complain, he kicks them over as well. Not caring whether or not they were heavily wounded, or had heavy armor on.
"Idiot! What are you doing?!"
This time, the voice of a panicking Guinnevere comes from behind him.
Turning around to face her, "What? Do you want me to kick you over as well? Guinn?", he offers her a retort.
Guinnevere, who comes up to him answers back, "As if! Why did you kick them over the railings?! Do you want to kill t-"
"Shut up and swim..."
"Aah!"
*Splash!*
Ashen however did not let her finish and simply pulled her over to the railings before finally kicking her on her butt and sending her plunging towards the river.
"Now, that's all the nuisances dealt with."
Satisfied, he returns to pick up his sword but then a huge piece of rubble comes flying at him causing him to jump back in surprise.
"That was close!"
He makes a rhetorical complaint as the piece of rubble crushes the spot he was previously on.
"You-! You dare to hit me with a paltry blade?!"
A voice filled with fury boomed from within the ruined building.
"Well, anything that can be called a weapon can be used to kill anything in this world afterall, so stop complaining."
Ashen responds in a callous tone. However, his mind was on high alert. He knows this opponent was nothing like the others. One quick strike was all it took for him to understand that his opponent right now is not human.
"That said, to actually survive even after I struck you once in the gaps of your damned armor. You're skin should be tougher than chromium steel. Only a few creatures on Earth have that kind of toughness to them..."
'This is bad, I shouldn't have left the sword there. The nearest sword is 21 feet away from me.'
Ashen grimaced at his careless mistake as he stared down the figure that was now walking out of the cloud of dust;
The same armored figure of the one Guinnevere was fighting earlier when Ashen had arrived. Not a scratch could be seen on the bronze surface of their gaudy armor.
"You...I shall burn you to ashes along with your people!"
"Yeah. Good luck with that. Here!"
Ashen did not want to prolong the fight and quickly threw something that he had taken out of his pocket towards the armored person.
"Why you-!"
*Boom!*
It was a grenade. Something that he filched from the airship prior to his arrival. He had used a stronger one to blow away the armored person right after he failed to pierce through the gaps of the person's armor earlier.
The explosion caused the person to reel backwards giving Ashen the chance to dash for the nearest sword and as soon as he had one in hand,
"I'm counting on you. You mess this up, I will hit you so hard, you would wish you did not take up the lance, stupid Gummy Bear!"
He threw it at the armored person with all his might with an expectant shout.
The sword flew through the air like a boomerang and hit the reeling armored person on their helm causing the sword to make a loud clang and being deflected upwards. As soon as it did-
"Who are you calling, 'Gummy Bear'?!"
-a figure bursts out from the river with an extremely angry retort.
It was Guinnevere, still shining white with magic with her lance poised to be thrown and a face filled with utmost displeasure.
'I hate using this technique but there is no helping it in this situation...'
Ashen grimaced as he took a stance just as Guinnevere started chanting rapidly;
"Oh Heavens above, bring down thy flash of judgement upon my foe!"
Noticing her, the armored person turned their head, "You shall not!", they made a sharp inhale in preparation for another ridiculous breath attack. But-
'Never turn your back on me you stupid lizard!'
Ashen saw that as the perfect chance to strike and so in the span of a second, he sharpened his senses once again as the colors of the drained in his vision. His mind, eliminating every function in his body that was unnecessary for his intended action.
"Let its white alacrity punish them for their sins like the falling stars-"
As Guinnevere finished her chant, Ashen had closed-in on the armored person's back with one great leap, his hand having grabbed the falling sword he had previously thrown and then-
"-Lightning Meteor!!"
-the two of them-Ashen and Guinnevere unleashed their attacks in perfect synchrony;
Ashen's delivers an earth-splitting attack that split the armored person from head to toe and in doing so, crushed the asphalt before jumping back just in time as Guinnevere's magically enchanted lance ripped through the air and hits the sundered enemy causing an explosion that pretty much levelled everything around them.
Unfortunately, Ashen who had planned to just jump away by a few meters did not expect such a strong explosion and was caught up in the blast.
"Wha-! You stupid Gummy-Bwaaaah!"
And thus he was blown away along with the other debris and enemy corpses.
*****
"You...you did that on purpose..."
"Of course!"
"Why?"
"Because if I did not, you would simply use the chaos to run away...again. I am not about to let you go running off like last time."
"Tsk!"
The sounds of fighting still echoed in the air but right now, Ashen was on the ground with his lower half buried under rubble. Unable to move but not in immediate danger, Ashen stared at the gray sky with eyes full of exasperation and a heart full to the brim with regret.
His plan to escape now gone along with the armored person Guinevere had just vaporized.
'I had thought that it was some well-timed coincidence that Nitwit suggested to jump from the airship and Mother Nature forcing Kallen to remove the cuffs by threatening to crash us with some terrifying turbulence so that I would jump out to accompany the damned Saint...but-'
Ashen turned his head, there squatting just a couple feet from his face was Guinnevere. One of the humans he would never ever want to meet ever again in his life and she was watching him as if waiting for someone.
'-to end up having to outright meet this annoying woman is just plain misfortunate! Why the heck am I always on the receiving end of bad luck?!'
Complaining to himself, he lets out another exasperated shrug as he returned to face the sky wondering what went wrong in his life. Not satisfied with the fact that no answer could be made, he settled with at least harassing Guinnevere who practically almost killed him just to calm himself,
"By the way, why the heck are you in the battlefield, Princess Gummy Bear?"
Guinnevere twitched at Ashen's words, "How many times do I have to tell you not to call me 'that'?", she asked in displeasure which only made Ashen all the more motivated.
"I remember telling you to just stick to your duties as a princess rather than going full-blown battle junkie with a spear. Look how it turned out, instead of ending this fight to reduce the damage, you just caused more than enough damage that you can probably call that avenue a recreational park because of the spaciousness."
"Urk!", Guinnevere twitched again.
"Just how stupid are you in controlling your magic? For me who cannot use magic, to actually see how stupid you control yours makes me want to cry in shame, and you say you want to become the 'Brynhildr' someday? Hah! That's a dream within a dream within a never-ending nightmare!", Ashen scoffed at her before continuing, "Now, I took a quick glance while I was free-falling from 10,000 feet in the air, but this bridge was the one that had the majority of the enemy forces right? Where the heck is the Brynhildr of the Royal Army? She should've been the one who fought that damned andromorphic wyvern."
"...", Guinnevere fell silent at his words.
"What? Don't tell me there's no one who currently holds the title..."
Ashen wishes that was not the case. He planned to go and leave Rosseweisse behind in the protection of the Brynhildr after he gets taken into the palace and stealthily slip away during a lax in their vigilance.
The one who holds the title of Brynhildr is someone that no one in the world would dare to just attack and so putting Rosseweisse, a very 'important' Saint to Mother Nature, under her protection would be the best choice.
'She shouldn't complain if it's someone who is more powerful than me protecting the nitwit so I can go ahead and leave.'
It was a perfect plan if he were to comment on it.
"But that aside. How is the queen?
Digressing from the initial agenda, Ashen then asks about something that he somehow got curious about.
Guinnevere looks at him in a momentary face of pleasant surprise but then sighs wryly, "If you are talking about Mother, she is currently in the palace resting. She can no longer take to the field for too long."
"Huh...then you're saying you're the queen regent right now? That sucks...", Ashen answers in disappointment, "Well she is getting old. But she must be going senile to be choosing a clumsy person like you to be regent. Amber would've been a better choice. As much as I hate to admit it."
He could hear Guinnevere sulk with a 'hmph!'.
"What about Evaline?"
"You sure are a worrywart when it comes to her. Not that it's a bad thing.", Guinnevere sighs in response. Her tone, betraying the feeling of still sulking.
"Shut up and answer the damned question."
Ashen asked impatiently.
"She's fine. Though she was moping around the palace since the time you left but now that she knows you're back, she's been more energetic. She sure is attached to you.", Guinnevere answers with a knowing smile.
"Better me than an idiot with 'Gummy Bear' as a nickname after-gah!"
Guinnevere interrupted Ashen by grabbing his face and starting to crush it in her armored palm, "I told you to stop calling me that!"
Not liking the feeling of getting manhandled, "Alright! Alright! I'll stop!"
"Say 'Sorry Guinnevere, I will not call you that again.'. Say it!", Guinnevere demanded as she continued to tighten her grasp on Ashen's face.
But Ashen did not like that and so-
"Okay! Okay! I will not call you that again!"
"Where is your apology?!"
"I'm so sorry, GUMMY BITCH!!!"
-he made a counter attack.
"Why you unrepenting-!"
"GAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!"
But sadly, he still lost.
His mind now saying, 'Karma is a bitch'.