At first glance Leona thought she was going to be attacked by the lieutenant, but the rifle's buttstock went right past her and hit someone that was directly behind her.
"Gah!"
The male shriek made Leona turn around as fast as she could only to notice the man about her height stumbling backwards with a rusted dagger in his left hand, his entire body was covered in tattered cloth and the only features she saw were the man's crimson eyes. After pushing him back Athena followed up with a kick to his chest which sent him with his back on the ground.
"Get ready Leona! We are surrounded!"
Almost all of the homeless people around them were starting to walk towards the duo with improvised weapons in hand. Broken bottles, letter openers, knives, they had almost anything they could use to brutally take someone's life.
"Should I use my magic?"
Leona whispered.
"If you promise it's nothing flashy, just try to not kill them." She drew out her knife from a hidden sheath inside her coat before shouting. "I'm an officer of the army, drop your weapons if you don't want your life to be forfeit!"
"Hah! As if we ever do that!" The man who was knocked down stood up and cleaned the side of his mouth before spitting to the side. "Y'all military folk all about maintaining order but you do nothing to save us from this hellhole! Now it's our turn to make a living! Come on boys, we're having a feast tonight!"
Other six ragged men holding makeshift weapons surrounded the homeless making orders.
"Tch, so much for talking our way out of this." Athena swiftly held her knife in a reverse grip and slightly bent her knees ready to fight. "Leo, I'm leaving the ones behind us to you. I'll deal with the front."
"Leave it to me." She opened both arms out with each hand stretching out as she began to chant. "Winds of time, release thy might-
A myriad of light blue strings began to flow out from the center of her chest coiling around her arms towards the middle of her hand where the energy gathered.
The ragged homeless man saw his opponent wide open, so he gripped his rusty knife ready to charge in to take a stab at the tactician.
"Charge!"
"-Wind Blast!"
Upon swinging both arms together, she formed a violent blast of wind that was strong enough to sweep through the whole street, sending half of the group flying with their backs towards the ground.
"Aaaaah!"
The spell was so strong that even objects in the vicinity were sent flying meters down the street. Even Athena that was behind her felt the wind pressure from her back.
'I bet she did a number on them.' The lieutenant thought with a smirk on her face when she looked at the reaction of the foes in front of her. 'Well, I should clean this up quickly too.'
Seeing how most of them were in shock, she decided to take matters into her own hands. She dashed in and hit the first man in the throat with the open left palm, making him bend over and drop his weapon while gasping for air. The other four noticed and snapped out of it, the first to attack was a broken bottle wielding masked man.
She blocked his arm with the weapon by using her forearm against his and quickly slash his inner elbow joint, which in turn made him lose the strength in that arm.
"Aaah! Dammit! My arm!"
Then she deftly kicked him against another one charging towards her and made them both fall on the ground, leaving her with enough time to deal with the other two coming from the right. One used a curved club that seemed made out of an antique table's leg and the other had a metal bar. The one holding the metallic rod tried a strong horizontal swing to her head, but she ducked out of the way and rushed in, once the man saw her closing in on him he tried to aim for her torso but before he could swing it at full speed, she managed to lock the weapon in place between her left biceps and forearm.
"What the-!"
He was about to let go of the weapon to punch her but she was faster and with a closed left fist, struck him in the chin before hitting the side of his head with the pommel of her knife, knocking him out.
"Grrr! I won't let you!"
The man holding a table leg rushed up to her while winding up an overhead swing. Athena, noticing the previous knocked down foe getting up from beneath his friend, opened her left arm letting the metal bar drop down to her hand and tossed it horizontally against the man charging at her to interrupt him.
"Guh!"
She hit him square in the chest and ran to the man standing up. She hit him with a left punch to the gut and grabbed the back of his head for a left knee to the face. He was left unconscious on top of his friend and when she turned around to the man holding the table leg he ran away.
Athena sighed.
"Finally they gave up." She turned to see Leona. "Are you oka- why are you looking at me like that?"
With blinking eyes and a half opened mouth the tactician was still processing what she had just seen.
"That was… incredible. I knew you were good with a gun but not in close quarters like that."
"I had some experience in the past." She looked at her left hand before closing it tightly into a fist. "In order to save those important to us, we must take action."
Leona nodded, she could definitely relate to it at that point. To spill blood for the sake of another may have been the most difficult thing for her to do as someone unfamiliar with the frontlines of a battlefield.
"Yeah." The tactician muttered. "I know that much."
"Come on, let's keep going- else we risk running into more of them."
Looking behind her, Leona couldn't help but feel somewhat sorry for them even though they tried to rob her. Despite that she turned to Athena and nodded her head as they continued on the wide frozen streets.
Though considered the slums to the Londrians, the tactician felt like they were underselling their own city. Sure maybe it housed the most impoverished part of the populace, but those were still solid buildings at least from the outside and could easily be repurposed as lodges for respite from the weather. Though saying any of that to Athena would be proven a waste of time, she kept that idea in mind.
As they went on, Leona could feel the streets were getting more and more quiet, only noticing a few discreet looks from the less aggressive homeless on the corners and narrow passages of the main street here and there. With the occasional stop to gather her bearings, Athena was sure they were heading towards the edge of the city where they could more easily find their way to the inn, however as she took a step around a dark corner of an alleyway.
"Don't move a muscle."
A cloaked man held the lieutenant at knifepoint with one dagger close to her throat and the other ready to stab her in the stomach. Her first reaction was to tense up as her hand almost immediately went to her hip where her derringer was.
"Leona run!"
Her shout startled both the assassin and the tactician who didn't see the man since he was out of view, the only thing she noticed was that Athena had stopped in her tracks and her right hand was practically ready to grab the weapon.
At that point Leona didn't have a choice, if she left her to die it would be just like back then with Neiliel, she didn't want to commit the same mistake. With an almost automatic response, she quickly pulled Athena from the back of her coat and once she was out of the way her right hand crackled with mana.
"Crushing Wind!"
A violent blast of wind sent him flying backwards but despite being spun in the air the man managed to land on his feet while sliding on the sleet covered ground. He stood up and noticed the tactician in front of Athena with two other fire spells charged in each hand.
"Wait… Leona, is that you?!"
The man's voice sounded oddly familiar as he spoke to her which prompted her to hesitate to unleash the spells.
"...How do you know me?"
"Bless the goddess you still live! It's me Jonathan!"