The city guard approached. It was a group that appeared to be led by a man in samurai armor. Interestingly enough he held no weapons. The rest of the guard wore generic leather armor that looked quite cheap.
"Halt! Who's there" The man with the samurai armor asked. Again approaching Kotori and Her group
Kotori had no response. There was no way they could lie about what they were doing. Obviously walking in sewers carrying large sacks would look suspicious to anyone.
Kotori looked at Amelie and nodded. It seemed they already knew themselves what they had to do.
They had no other option but to eliminate these guards and hide the evidence.
Kotori quickly cast a half-power mana buff. Both Shu and Umi grew to their turtle and snake forms respectively.
Umi struck first, shooting two water blades at the two guards flanking the samurai. The blades whirled through the air with a whistle and instantly decapitated them. Their heads fell to the ground with a soft thump before their bodies crumpled. The man in the middle seemed to have blocked the water blade with a glowing Katana.
"Hmmm, Not very talkative are we"
He looked at the people who had just struck down his comrades.
With the air of a trained warrior, he didn't seem unsettled in the slightest over the fact the people he was patrolling with were killed in an instant.'
Another blade materialized in his other hand this time it was a Tachi.
"Name yourself!"
Kotori who had zero intention of negotiating with the man directed Shu and Umi to throw their ranged spells.
A mass of rock and another blade of water shot towards the man. His blade shifted imperceptibly, and the projectiles were instantly cut down.
[This guy seems a little strong]
"I am Yooma of the thousand blades! Name yourself and surrender yourself, you can still be taken and given fair trial!"
"And what will happen once the trial is prosecuted," Kotori asked
"You will be executed for disturbing the peace!"
"Then we don't have much incentive to surrender"
"No," Yooma said
"You will be executed with honor and I will make an effort to send your remains back to your relatives!"
[This guy is really annoying] Kotori thought,
It seemed this man named Yooma was one of those lawful honorable type. Kotori had a sneaking suspicion that this man was a former adventurer. It made sense, considering the fact that she knew that adventures were now hired by the kingdom.
[Why are they here though?] Kotori thought,
It seemed very odd that there were guards here considering it was the sewer.
Shun and Anya seemed petrified They had entered this arrangement wanting a simple smuggling job for access to a dungeon and now they were fighting someone. It was very obvious they didn't have any battle experience.
During this entire sequence, they had been slowly stepping away. Still, it wasn't like they were getting away. The only way they could run was if they went back through the sewer they came from.
Still, it wasn't like Kotori expected them to be able to fight in the first place. Although they wanted to be adventurers they were still essentially a bunch of teens with no experience in the first place. It was likely they were to type to think about it and say
"Well I'll figure it out eventually"
Kotori held a little disdain for them, but also couldn't be bothered to care about them so she just ignored them.
The man leaped forward, going a distance that didn't seem possible for a human to cover. He obviously had higher stats than most of the people that Kotori had dealt with earlier.
Shu lept in the way to block the hit. The blades slid harmlessly on his body dealing no damage to his rocky exterior.
Umi quickly reacted as well, by using her body like a whip and trying to hit Yooma. He quickly twisted away and moved back several paces.
They both assessed each other. Yooma obviously was giving Kotori and her Spirits a great amount of respect.
He smiled then dropped both his blades.
They fell to the ground with a clang.
Kotori was baffled until she saw the blades disappeared into shimmering light and a new set of weapons appear in his hands.
He now holds a wooden club studded with iron spikes* and a small dagger that seemed to have an icy mist coming off it.
*Look up Kanabo if you want to know exactly what he is using.
[So much for being a thousand "blades"] Kotori thought noting how a club was very much NOT a blade
He leaped forward again. This time his club was bearing down on Shu.
Shu attempted to block the hit with his body but this time the wooden club crushed his rock armor.
Flecks of his rocky skin crackled and it seemed like he had broken several bones. Although spirits didn't have a "physical form" they maintain it via mana and thus hits against their body will still damage them. Although it wouldn't kill Shu he still suffered quite a bit of damage.
Umi jumped into cover and Yooma slid the dagger across her scales. Instantly that section of her body began to freeze up.
Umi tried to move away but her viscious body was already half destroyed by the blade.
Kotori looked at her spirits. Both of them now had damages to sizable chunks of their bodies. Although they could still fight it was obvious that the man they were fighting was much stronger than he looked.
"Give up!" The man said
"I am a "Pawn" of the king" The man seemed to place particular emphasis on the "pawn" part of the sentence
[Is that a title] Kotori thought in puzzlement
Kotori quickly directed Umi to use mana flow to her entire body.
"Hold him off" She told Amelie. This wasn't a person that Kotori could beat using her own mana pool.
Amelie ran into the fray to fight the man. She was using her mother's sword.
Yooma swung downward with the club, Amelie gracefully lept out of the way. The club came crashing down hit the ground. It was now very obvious that this man was using some kind of body enhancement magic. The club slammed into the ground and made a crater. There were tendrils of cracks that emanated from the impact location.
Kotori was now impressed that Shu had managed to take a hit like that at all.
She felt Umi's mana flow into her and began to cast a song.