At the same time that Casper turned the street and lost sight of Sionnach and the man, he heard a loud, sharp sound.
"They started already. I need to rush to increase as much distance as I can."
Casper was aware of Nach's condition. She said that her thigh got cut. Probably, a wound serious enough to makes it impossible for her to run away. However, if she could not even run, fight was the same.
Casper was sure that she would die, and that was one of the motivations for his rush. If she died, then the man would track him and murder him as well.
The priority there was to keep alive, no matter what happened with the people around him. It was a line of thought that Casper himself disliked though.
"Even so, sometimes we need to be individualist to survive. On a battlefield, all that matters is to survive. No need for emotions or ties. In the exact time that you step in a place like this, you're throwing your humanity away, willing or not."
Because of those ideals and principles, Casper kept running without any concerns except for himself.
"All I need is to make it in time to the tower. I will decide what to do when I get there. Surely there are plenty of things I can think of to make that thing work without the help of Nach."
He could find his way on that urban maze, although it was difficult as hell.
His muscles were throbbing in pain. It looked like his lungs would explode at any time.
All he could do was to ignore all that, focus on the objective, and forget about the huge exhaustion that kept making him feel like carrying 1 ton of weight on his shoulders.
The problem with that was that now not just his body was reaching its very limits, but his mind too. He needed to use all the focus he had to accomplish such performance, which was a huge effort to the brain.
He could feel already all the harm it was doing to him: vision darkening, headaches, dizziness… Every single symptom was gathering together at the same time and making Casper live the most excruciating experience of his life.
His senses were decreasing as well, which was his executioner because it prevented him to pay attention to his surroundings.
Casper just knew that he was being followed when it was too late.
An arrow came flying towards him, crossing the air at full speed and piercing his shoulder. Half of the arrow penetrated and he could feel the tip going through all the meat to the other side.
He screamed painfully, reaching his left shoulder with the hand.
Seeing the arrow, he broke it in two immediately, letting the other half still stuck there. He could not pull it carelessly, since it could result in serious bleeding.
"This arrow came from that building in front? There will be more, I am sure. Keep paying attention there!" He ran towards an alley and hid there, with his back leaning against a wall. He let a bit of his face appearing to peek at the top of the building he supposed that the attacker was.
Suddenly, he could clearly hear the sound of an arrow cutting the air. He jumped outside the alley, somersaulting.
The arrow flew from the top to where he was, nearly scratching him.
"The person is on top of me!? But…" He could not think much more because of his current lazy mind, other projectile reached him, scratching his cheek. This attack came from behind this time.
Casper was astonished and dumbfounded, he did not know what to do next.
"It's a device that can teleport you? No, it can't be. The devices were supposed to be discharged now."
Another arrow, this time from the building he was guessing first. Casper did not expect that the archer would shot from the same place two times, and again he could not prevent to be hurt.
Casper leaped to the side instinctively when he spotted the arrow coming at full speed, but it was not enough and it scratched his belly.
The succession of shots continued, Casper kept running zigzag. Most of the projectiles could at least scratch him, making his clothes get all torn and his body full of cuts.
The archer kept acting like a ghost, as if he was everywhere, making Casper doubt If he could run away at all. Even if he was willing to fight, he could not even see the silhouette of the person.
He was facing an enemy he could not see, nor touch, neither predict. The max he was able to do was to run and run more, avoiding as many arrows as he could and trying to make his exhausted mind work a bit.
Casper tried to enter a lot of different buildings, but the archer would make sure to keep him away from it with multiple bursts of arrows. He was like a mouse in a kind of hide and seek game.
"I noticed something. Whatever this person actually is, he has a pattern. If he shoots an arrow, he will always change to another position. Never two attacks at once on the same local, unless he already changed positions and shot."
The soldier could use that information to try to escape from the streets.
Casper reached a point of the streets, stopping to run suddenly. A shot came ahead, and he leaped to the right, successfully dodging. Another one came, this time from behind, and he ducked to avoid it. While on the ground, his right side was aimed, specifically in the throat; the soldier needed to stop the arrow with his arm, using it as a shield. He bit his tongue to the point of making it bleed, trying to ignore the pain on the arm, that had now an arrow through it.
Finally, the arrow of the left was fired. While dodging it, Casper started to run again with all his might, rushing towards the door of a house on the left side of the streets, that was deprotected now. At the same time, more arrows came from the other positions, in a desperate attack.
"Now!"
When he reached the door, he slammed his shoulder on it, breaking it down and entering.
His consciousness was nearly fading out. His arm with the arrow pierced in it was sending waves of overwhelming pain.
For a few seconds, Casper passed out.
…
A blade entered the panoramic view of Nach. Her body acted on its own, stepping backward, seeing the blade edge shine a few centimeters away from her nose.
It was a horizontal arc stroke, and the motion made a huge opening on the enemy's guard. At this time, the Ridire did not lose even a millisecond; her machete pierced in the air, aiming exactly at the opening.
She never thought it would really land, however. That man was a perceptive one and seemed very used to infight with sharp weapons.
She felt the edge of the machete touching something, though it did not last much. In the end, all she had cut was air and nothing more.
"Damn it! He is pretty quick for someone with this much height and strength…" It was even unfair that an opponent like this existed.
Being a woman, Nach always was trained to improve her flexibility and agility. In a fight with a man taller and stronger than her, these attributes could make a huge difference, and it always had until that point.
"Well, I can't say for sure that it doesn't make a difference, since this wound doesn't let me do my very best…" She took a brief look to her thigh, disappointed.
"How could I not notice a movement that made such a deep cut on me? That's frustrating. If I could use my device at least…"
With her mind operating at a crazy speed, these thoughts did not take too long.
All they were doing now, anyway, was to circle each other and keep looking intently without missing anything.
"You are good." That was all that he said, seeming excited with that fight.
The woman did not bother in answer and continued to circle him, increasing each time more speed on her footwork and learning his style and patterns.
She narrowed her eyes for his left leg since it was doing strange motions. That was a very strange way to move his leg, as if it was…
Sionnach did a feint filled with killing intent forward. The man, startled by the sudden movement, tried to make some distance. The Ridire kept looking at his legs.
"That's it!" She ran towards him, in a sudden quick attack. In no time, the gap between them was closed and she was about to do a vertical swing, bottom to top.
Of course, the man could dodge it in time.
But, to his surprise, the machete escaped from Nach's hand and flew upwards, brightening under the Moon's pale light.
His mind kept distracted with that vision for just one second, but that was more than enough to the Ridire, who immediately charged a powerful kick, that did not aimed at his face or belly, but for his left knee.
The man gave a scary scream, crying in pain.
As Sionnach thought, his left leg had a permanent injury. That was his Achilles' heel. Nobody who looked so addicted to fights would be at his top body condition, without any harmless for the countless fights from the past.
"I got you! If you survive from this, remember to never let appear your weak points again, bastard!"
He tried desperately to retaliate with his right arm, sending the blade flying towards the woman.
She, however, predicted it and ducked before it reached her neck.
Again, something appeared in the man's sight: a machete falling from the sky in front of him.
Nach picked up the machete in middle-air and followed with a full-swing diagonal slash.
Her excitement mixed with the certain victory got vanished in seconds though. She felt a huge pain in her belly.
Looking at it, she spotted the left arm of the man - which she had forgotten completely of the existence - aiming a humble and improvised device at her. Sharp metal pieces were deeply stuck into her skin.
She leaped backward, to avoid being attacked a second time, and pressed her hand tightly against the belly, moaning in pain.
"So, that's how you hurt me when we were locking blades … It was a furtive attack with the left arm's device. He is sneaky as well…"
This time, the enemy was with his both arms outside the cape. The right, the same as before. The left, however, had a device on the forearm. Apparently, it was a sort of a trigger of sharp, tiny metal projectiles. It was made of scrap and seemed to be all rusty and dirty.
"If I don't die in this battle, I will certainly be taken away from tetanus afterward…"
All Nach's body started to tremble. She did not know why, until she glared at the man's face, straight on his eyes.
The side of his face which was not covered with the mask was distorted with fury, and his eyes were nothing but a huge hollow thirsty of blood and nothing more.
He was limping heavily with his left leg, which was also trembling in pain. The kick also seemed to cause a slight fracture on the bone. But he still pressed forward, looking like a mad man, as if the pain did not matter at all.
"W-what's your name, Frelsi?" She tried to gain some time to recover from that pressure.
"They called me from a certain name before, but among the Frelsi, I am Murtair." His deep voice made her heart falter in fear.
Nach had a lot of fights before, but never once someone let her so apprehensive.
She remembered what was in her pocket. The pocket that was right on her chest. Something important.
She breathed in and out, regaining her composure and taking a firm fighting stance again.
"Of course I will be alive! And I hope you keep safe as well. And, of course, I will struggle every day, then come to see you one day." She remembered what he said.
"I will be waiting, bro…" She muttered. "I will ve waiting until you reach me!"
To fulfill her promises and keep alive, once more Sionnach rushed forward