Meanwhile the fight between Sniffia and the Huntress roughly took the whole space at the western region of the village concurrently cutting down the creepers creeping and the palm trees and vegetations around them. Both took many steps backwards.
The huntress pressured about slashing, Sniffia swooped down through the sand in between the Huntress' legs towards a creeper behind, whom Sniffia took down immediately with her dagger thrusted to the head then she straddled facing the huntress as cold wind whiffed by fluttering her blond hair to all directions.
Sniffia exhaled, her expression shows how focused she had been during the entire fight, her slightly wet palms gripping onto her dagger tightly with it's face pointing straight up at the cloudy night sky gradually looming away from the full moon, she glazed at the huntress in her pose holding her skean pointing down towards the sand, breathing moderately.
Both ladies' bodies were covered in small bleeding cuts on their legs, forearms and sides probably caused by their weapons.
The huntress scoffed, Sniffia charged at her.
Unknowingly to the teenaged girl and the huntress, Sniffia wounds on her body were healing than normal.
"Girl, your techniques are good, full of experience I give you that, where do you learn the act of properly defending yourself with a dagger?... Finding a dagger that fits you is one thing but maintaining complete control of your dagger why attacking your opponents and defending yourself in close combat is what makes a better short blade user. "
She sidesteps Sniffia's strikes about counterstriking, Sniffia jumped away, landing on her knees and hands in the sand like a four legged beast creature, groaning.
She scanned her surroundings moving her nose with a sniff hoping to know where Peirce was.
"Ah~" The huntress was right behind Sniffia unnoticed. "Be warned. Don't go looking away while in a fight as blood-thirsty as this."
Sniffia turned her blade at her, the huntress deflected it, strew sands from the ground at Sniffia's eyes then pulled the teenaged girl down to the sand about stabbing her, Sniffia held the huntress's blade with her bare hand firmly inches from her forehead, with her eye's lids firmly closed from the sands on her face Sniffia couldn't see a thing but struggled to hold onto the weapon never letting go.
Such strong grip. The huntress thought.
"Fighting this hard to protect the boy?... A lover? Nevertheless, what will he do if I slashed and drilled a hole in your pretty face." The huntress spoke, resting her whole body against Sniffia restricting her from moving.
"W-what do you guys want from Peirce." Sniffia grunted, bleeding from her hand which dripped down to her eye's lids and forehead while using all the strength she had left to move her body especially her restricted arm.
"Peirce, so that's his name, a cute name if you ask me." She further pressed down with the corner of her mouth quirked up behind her mask, her eyes poorly could be seen within, the skean pushed an inch closer to Sniffia's forehead.
Finally gaining control of her second arm Sniffia swiftly used it to decreased her opponent's push as sweat, blood with sands rolled down her face.
"It'd be painful when you love someone so dearly and that someone doesn't love you back as the same way you do. Cause' all I see here is a hightailed boy never coming back for the girl she thinks he loves. Fun part, he will be our guinea pig due to the unknown potential he carries." Sniffia clenched her teeth, ponderously loosing her grips as she bleeds more from both palms.
The huntress's masked face came closer to Sniffia's red-stained grunting face.
"— on my name, if you join us, what ever you desire will be given onto you including what is left of the boy after everything." She spoke in a casual tone.
"Dima?" Dryad's uncle called from afar, strolling to them with two hunters behind him, few creepers could be seen laying lifelessly on the sand at the background.
The huntress looked behind her as a creeper thudded to the sand with long spear thrusted into it's mouth.
"She need to be killed. She a child that knows more than she's betting on, I can't risk her telling everyone who we are. The boy is who we need to find unaccompanied and quick before there are more causalities between them and we."
"I'm so sorry… I lost myself—" The huntress regretted with a lowered face, still pressing down her weapon about piercing Sniffia's forehead.
"None taken, you haven't had this much fun in a long while, that was the motive, isn't it?… just finish it quick."
Dima nodded her head as she turned her masked face to Sniffia.
"Sorry, but I will have to end it all." She swiftly pulled away her skean slashing Sniffia's hardened grips then head-butted Sniffia with her mask.
It echoes.
Sniffia's head shook, the sands beneath thumps off slightly burying her whole body as Sniffia's forehead bruised wide opened and her nose bleeds.
The impact was so strong, she had a concussion right away.
"This one will snuff you out for good." The Huntress head-butted her once more.
It echoes louder than the latter over the snarling and grunting sounds straining from the battle.
Lazarus looked towards the place not able to see what was going on over the palm trees and the wigwams around before he was hit by the iron mace which he manageably blocked throwing him miles away from where he stood, destroying few palms trees along the way.
Jamal and what was left of the tribe's guards were overshadowed by the rampaging creepers however their desert beast reptiles came to help also while Peirce, Node with Jamal's pregnant wife surprisingly slayed the creepers surrounding them as deteriorating green particles lightly swam over the mist enveloping them.
The remaining tribe's members all stood on their boats floating just away from the coast of the pink lake staring in awe to their village clouded in snarls and grunting sounds in fear of losing their loved ones representing the tribe's guards and the village to the impassionate trespassers.
All but to save an outsider who was allowed to dwell in their village with his friends just yesterday from the hands of the ambitious Frankenstein along with his unyielding patrons.
Was it worth it?...
Was it fated?...
They could have avoided all this if the boy was quietly given to them nevertheless the Rogogal tribe was a desert tribe that was known for their unfathomed kindness.
They'd treat, welcome and protect outsiders that knows the secrets of the desert as their own, this is how they live and this is what they believed in, nothing could ever change that. Not to forget, the boy they were trying to protect was the incarnate of the Destroyer making one to ask once more...
In all these, was it worth it?
Sniffia slowly lost consciousness. Only her face covered in blood could be seen exposed on the sand, she coughed as her eyes slowly rolled up into her head.
The huntress exhaled got upright, holding her skean over to Sniffia without saying any words for a brief moment before the huntress walked to the direction where Peirce might be.
"… I won't let you…" Sniffia groaned already on her feet with her eyes shut as huge masses of sand fell from her body and her fists raised up high to her cheeks area as blood and sands dripped down from her face, her wounds slowly healed.
Her eyes could no longer focus on the same point of where the huntress stood everything appeared blurry to her.
Sniffia gruntingly sniffed, perceiving Dryad's uncle and the two hunters coming closer.
The huntress stopped, without looking back at her while holding the long spear earlier on the dead creeper her fellow hunter hunted down near her.
"I won't let you?" She questioned.
The dark clouds eventually loomed away from the village as the full moon once again illuminated just above Sniffia.
"You… can't…" Sniffia staggered then her eyes opened wide as it shone with a scream, "you can't… take him from me!"
Her body beamed in sliver conceiving also slivered dusts which filtered around, as Lazarus fought, he saw the slivery dots spreading from afar.
His eyes widened.
Dryad's uncle stopped and the hunters walking with him observed Sniffia's strange phenomenon.
Her nails suddenly whitened, grew long and sharp. One, two, four then six fangs sharply thrusted out from her mouth, one longer than the other then her hair slowly turned sliver starting from the top of her head as it did she suddenly moved her head from the way of the spear mightily thrown at her, then she vomited blood, Sniffia's eyes rolled up staring into the eyes of the Huntress behind her mask who was surprisingly in front of her.
The huntress also gazed at Sniffia's eyes and spoke.
"... too bad… I moreover won't let you… "
The huntress's hand was seen with her skean right inside the middle of Sniffia's chest.
"This goes through your heart, there is no chance in surviving. You can rest now since there's nothing you could have done to stop this."
Then the huntress twisted her skean right into Sniffia chest before pulling it out of her.
Sniffia grunted fell on her knees with a gasp as her appearances went back to her normal self then finally dropped to the sand, face up gasping with her eyes opened wide.
The huntress watches how she took her final breaths.
She stooped then closed Sniffia's eyes before leaving.
From afar Dryad's uncle watched then back to the tribe's guards around fighting the creepers.
Hoping not a single one of the tribe's guards saw them or the death of a teenaged girl.
This is taking too much of our time, he looked up to the full moon reflecting in his eyes without a word.
—
How did my wife found me? How did she?! Was she the one?! Lazarus pondered as he fought, should I just run away now! No what about the kids?... When did I, the Shadow Inhumane have such feelings for those random kids. Anyways let just assume she isn't the one who appeared at the middle of the desert--Wait, did Sniffia and the boys escaped?
"You know what, Shadow Inhumane?" Frankenstein uttered as the fat being carried him around his neck following Lazarus and the biggest being fighting each other ferociously. "What's life?"
"You just answering your question with question, marks how dead bag you're!"
"Was that a question to my question, Hahahaha, don't mind me. I believed with all my theories taken into consideration there is finally an answer to the meaning of life, whereas every move we take in life leads us to our death! Don't you think so, my--?"
"--You're right. It surprising, you and I are those kind of beings who would think like that, this might be the smartest words you'd ever spoke of since those painful wasted times at your testing room however never lose sight of what life truly means; it's all about living and spending your moments around beings who make you feel loved. It's worth it--when I'm done with this bogus over here I will come for your head this time Frankenstein, never will I forget the things you did to me at that lab!"
"Eh~ what can I say but to thank you for your cooperation during all that, you were one of few who made my day, coming down there everyday was worth it." Frankenstein said with a bowed head, suddenly a portal appeared right behind Lazarus as the biggest being pushed Lazarus, both fell into the portal.
Frankenstein exhaled with a smile.
"I will miss him… the Shadow Inhumane."
He tapped the fat being who was carrying him.
"Let's go back, the creepers are getting lesser in numbers." The fat being walked back to the village along with the one who produced the portal.
"Oh my~" Frankenstein spoke from behind. Dryad's uncle stopped, rolled his eyes back without moving his body. "I thought by now the boy will be captured, what is taking too long to get him back here or he's no longer at the village?" Frankenstein stared at his screen.
"… I don't know, I will see to it, myself." Dryad's uncle said, continued his walk through the wigwams.
Frankenstein watched him go and sighed contently.
"I will hold my position since my biggest gun is not with me, yet. Bye for now." He waved his hand while staring at the screen in the other hand. "oh~ you will need this," he flung the strange screen to Dryad's uncle who caught it effortlessly, "You know how it could be used, right? just progress to the only brightest dot you see on it. The boy never left the village."
Frankenstein spread his arms sideways looking at the sky filled with few twinkling stars as a meteor streaked across the sky.
"I told you I will make things easier!" He snickered.
Dryad's uncle nodded, walked farther into the village.
Frankenstein sighed again, glancing and touching the bandages on his body.
What should I do next~ suddenly a small hand thrusted into the fat being's chest ripping his heart out, Frankenstein looked around to see who dares, "Oh, well, well, well. Let me get this straight. All my thoughts was you and your second died, buried along with the ruins at the city but… you ripping out their hearts was useless because, they are my walking dead subjects!"
He turned around at the little figure behind him.
The little figure revealed an upturned ultramarine eyes of a small girl gleaming through the night as she briskly munched the stolen heart raw then turned to Frankenstein and his underlings, hissing with red stains veiling her whole mouth.
Frankenstein scratched his bandaged head.
"What surprises me the most was your signals was never seen on my screen or have you finally got the intelligence to know where I put it in your bodies."
He squinted his eyes at the barefooted girl as the small chains on her neck clanks and the rag she wore sways in the wind.
He noticed a bloody spot on her shoulder.
Figures, she'd removed it herself but how?