As Ki and Rashida reached the medium sized wooden house alongside a small shack a man opened the door of the small shack.
The moment he opened the door Rashida stepped forward and cut a wound on the mans chest before he could notice what was happening, luckily he stepped back a little enough so that the wound was not fatal.
He was experienced in battle and the cries of his comrades woke him up, luckily he was able to wake himself up enough before exiting the shack otherwise he would of lost his life very quickly.
He fell backwards towards his bed and grabbed a metal staff and began to support his body with it with one hand and the other clutching the wound on his chest.
His face was twisted in pain and anger, he glared at Rashida who attacked him. "Bitch you dare to strike at me?!"
All of a sudden he saw that he could not escape so made a split seconds decision to attack, his staff met head on with Rashida's scimitar.
He had more strength and won out on the exchange but not by much because of the wound inflicted on him.
Meanwhile Ki stood in front of the house of the leader waiting for him to come out, as soon as the sounds of clashing weapons started two people walked out cautiously.
One was a woman to looked like she had trained in martial arts and the man who was of a larger build, both were dressed in beast skin clothing and they carried a spear and a pair of daggers.
The woman looked at the small child before her vigilantly and asked. "Are people sending child assassins after us small bandits these days?"
The man snorted. "Doesn't matter, if you want to live then just kill anyone that gets in our way."
Ki stood and patiently listened to their words before answering. "You should not of made an enemy of me. None of you will escape tonight."
The man wielded his spear and sent the tip of it towards Ki's throat the instant she showed some form of weakness, Ki however narrowly avoided it and then stepped out of the range of the spears path as it returned.
Ki had noticed that the spear had two attachments which were sharp pointing in the opposite direction of the spear tip, if the spear was pulled back after she dodged then she would be pierced by one of them.
The woman did not miss this chance and approached Ki's side trying to block her retreat but all of a sudden Ki lifted her arm towards the woman who had an ominous premonition.
A dart flew from her sleeve and hit the woman in the middle of her chest, she struggled to stay upright after being hit by the dart.
Ki barely paid her any attention and mocked. "Stop interfering" 'you won't live long anyways, the poison applied to the dart is lethal.'
The woman clutched her chest with a pained expression then her eyes rolled back, she began frothing at the mouth and her body fell to the ground convulsing within several seconds.
As this happened Ki had already steadied her stance once again and began to read the path of the spear strikes, sometimes the spear would bend and twist and come from odd angles while other times the wood would snap back after bending too far and increase its speed of slashing or piercing with the tip of the spear.
Ki began to adjust her breathing during receiving the attacks, she slowly began to familiarise herself with her footwork and continued to protect her body by parrying the sharp and unpredictable spear attacks but… 'he is not the most skilled spear used I have met in my years but he is indeed helping me. My martial arts are wood based. I have forgot the principle from which wood is based, plant life, trees and how they react to their environment.'
Ki began to parry more attacks and other times she barely dodged the tip of the spear. 'A tree is firm and solid at its base, it supports the rest of the tree.'
She broke through to get closer to the man and began to go to pierce him with her sword but the man pulled back the spear. 'The branches are supported by the base of the tree, the branches support the smaller twigs and leaves. When wind blows on them or pressure is applied the branch begins to bend and twist. If the branch reaches its limit it snaps but if it doesn't then it will snap back with a lot of power and momentum. What is important about my martial arts is my flexibility and control of my power, a twist of my waist, wrist or arm and I can gain control of the power attacking me to defend while at the same time my muscles and tendons are being pushed to the limit of their flexibility until the moment when I redirect my enemy
It's power or the direction of their attack. That is the moment where the body snaps back to normal and carries forth the attack like a wooden stick being bent and then the result after one end being released. It snaps back with more power.'
Ki smiled upon seeing her enemy hadn't given up but she was becoming overwhelmed because her body was still too immature and not yet in a condition to fight a second rate martial artist alone. 'I need to end this quickly.'
Seeing that she could not get too close since her reach was not as long as his and he kept backing away and bringing his spear back to stop her getting closer she decided to give it one more try.
She made the best use of her concentration and closed the gap after parrying a piercing strike, she then made use of her small size to duck lower and sliced the mans leg which made him lose his balance. 'Most martial artists use their waist and legs as the foundation to support their martial arts, especially spear arts. If that is disrupted then they cannot maximise their skills. Now the rhythm has been disrupted.'
The leaders attacks were indeed becoming more clumsy since he began to feel the irritation in his wound and could not stand properly since the wound was quite deep "You little bit**!"
His eyes were bloodshot as he resisted the urge to tend to his poisoned wound but as time his concentration wavered.
Ki took this opportunity to get close after cutting the wooden pole of the spear in half and began to leave several wounds on the mans legs and chest in a series of fast attacks.
The man coughed up a mouthful of blood as the sword entered his chest and exited his back.
He made one last effort to grab onto the sword hilt and the hand holding it but before he did Ki let go of the sword and stepped back avoiding the dagger which he pulled out and aimed at Ki's neck.
No longer able to hold on he fell to the ground after failing his final attack and died filled with resentment.
Ki activated her blood mystic arts to absorb the blood from the man and woman lying dead on the ground. 'This battle has been very helpful towards gaining a couple of ideas for my sword and palm arts. My style needs to be loose and unpredictable, in control of my limbs which are bending, flexing and twisting. In controlling myself I can control my enemy and even restrict them. When I fend off their attacks I will gain momentum to strike back.'
Rashida had already took advantage of activating her mystical arts after using her enemy as a sparring partner, once she felt that she was at a disadvantage because of the difference in time training and the difference in size of their physiques she ended the battle quickly by draining him of his blood.
One young girl and a woman in her late teens had stood before 3 dead bodies and slowly digested their gains during their life and death battles.