RAINE BLOSSOM'S POV
I activated my Arcanum post haste as the two men in front of me did the same
"no offence little missy"
said the one on the right, a dark haired man with a lanky build and dark eyes
"but it's either you or us"
said his companion, bald headed with a scar on his face.
They seemed like good people, normal people, the only differences between them and the people I had sworn to protect was that they were simply stronger, and they were currently my enemies, my mind wandered back to when Langris had gone over the plan, he hadn't made it clear who was doing what but even then, I knew that I'd rather fight in this disadvantageous battle than to do what Crox was doing right now
'I know, but I'd be insulted if you held back'
they replied by nodding.
All I did was blink before right in front of me was a rapier with some kind of red aura around it, it was poised to pierce through my skull but I swerved my head sideways and dodged, I could feel the force it carried, a pierce so strong it could have easily splattered the brains of any lesser opponent, the lanky man was in front of me, he drew his arm backwards and began thrusting towards my face with an unreal speed but each time I managed to counter with my own blade constantly diverting his attacks away with an shaky form, I concentrated my icy aura around my balde mixing it with my ki as it crashed into the red aura, after a few hundred exchanges that happened in less than a second i was left confused, I intended to use my ice to weigh down his sword and make it harder for him to swing but although the effect was there it wasn't as powerful as I had expected, I drew back choosing to swing in a wide arc and push him back but my senses immediately picked up danger behind me, I jumped higher than I had previously intended only to see weird shards sticking out of the ground behind me, if I hadn't jumped I would have been impaled on them, the shards burst open and dozens of them began chasing me, I swung my sword rapidly cutting them into peices but the peices I cut simply followed me, so instead I released an omni directional blast of cold air laced with ki and froze those shards in place, the lanky man was behind me once more, he swung with force towards my back and sent me flying several hundred feet.
"quite a sharp one"
he said as he desended
"aye"
said his counterpart, they were referring to my back or rather what was on it, a paper thin shield of ice was there, although fragile looking this thing was packed with enough essence to block 8th teir magic, it quickly broke apart after they were through complementing me, although it served its purpose there was still an unbelievable soreness in my back proving that that strike would have been fatal
"little miss don't you think you're underestimating us a bit"
said the lanky man
"as far as Don's go we may not be anything special but we can still tell when our opponents out of it"
said the scar'ed man, the lanky man nodded saying
"yep, I may not look like it but I actually have a long history with artifacts, I'm even proficient enough to make 7th teir ones with the right materials, and I can tell you have a high level one on you right now, and its sapping your concentration"
I wanted to throw a tantrum, could everyone see through this thing, first it was Langris's cocky eyes and then that Kalen guy who decided to embarrass me in front of my own subordinates and now these two, men I was supposed to kill, they weren't even taking advantage of a weakness so glaring..... it was starting to piss me off
"there's no need to ne ashamed of how you look sweety"
said the lanky man
"especially in front of your opponents, we're here to judge you based on skill not on your looks and besides, no matter how ugly you look even if you're absolutely revolting you'll still be prettier than me"
said the scar'ed man as he flashed a smile exposing quite a few crooked teeth, yet to me it was quite charming
"that is true, especially the last part"
the lanky man said with an equally endearing smile on his face
"shut up fool, it's not as if you're any better looking"
thw scar'ed man replied, I wanted to laugh, it was such a comical exchange, one you would never find in the average death match but instead with the smallest of smirks on my face I asked
'why are you guys helping me?, its not because I'm pretty is it?'
"nah, it's because I can't bring myself to kill a scared little girl"
said the scar'ed man
"yep"
said the lanky man
"when you first came in I could tell, you're one of those ones with a code, only kill those deserving of it..... it doesn't always work like that in this line of work, and I'm not about to play the bad guy just so some girl can please herself either, but if I could help her learn, If she could turn from some scared princess to a warrior queen, maybe I wouldn't even mind dying at her hands"
the lanky man continued
"you have a weird fetish"
"shut it"
the two then began a back and forth that lasted several seconds, longer than the entirety of our fight, I chuckled first, my laugh steadily growing until I could no longer hold it back, I began to guaff catching the attention of the two who were arguing, looking at me with soft smiles on their faces before I comported myself saying
'thank you for waiting Don's Braxton and Grucius, the second Don of Trident Raine Blossom will now face you, properly this time'
I said, out of nowhere a triangular gold and blue earing appeared on my ear, I placed my hand on it almost tenderly, afterall it was still a gift, one from my master but it wouldn't help me here, I crushed it and allowed my true appearance to show, shock ran through their faces, I hadn't changed much, it was just as Don Kalen had said, my breasts were much bigger now so was my butt, my hair colour had changed from black to a beautiful mix of red and orange, like a sun set but the most drastic change came in neither of those, afterall those were changes I had made myself to keep nasty eyes away from me, now the real reason why I wore this artifact was visible
"so you grew up there didn't you"
"yep there's no mistaking that skin colour"
rather than the typical fair skin that was predominant on the continent mine was honey brown, a lighter shade of the typically dark skin tone most commonly seen of the folk of the so called free confederacy of the South as they styled them selves, but the world only recognised them by one name, The pirate Isles, yep I was the daughter of a sea lord and a slave and if I had set foot on the continent looking like this I would have been captured and killed within a week.
'I hope you gentlemen aren't disappointed'
I said with a smile,
""wouldn't dream of it""
they replied in unison with the biggest of grins on their faces as they charged once more.